


Life and Times of Harry Hibiki

by USA_Tiger



Series: Harry Hibiki [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Ranma 1/2
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-11
Updated: 2015-11-13
Packaged: 2017-12-29 02:46:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 32,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/999934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/USA_Tiger/pseuds/USA_Tiger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of one-shots detailing the years of Harry Hibiki-Potter was raised by Ryoga Hibiki and the Nermia Wrecking Crew. A companion series to the Harry Hibiki fics.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Harry Hibiki - the one shot series

 

Disclaimer: Harry Potter © J. K. Rowling and Ranma 1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi

 

Author note: Thanks to my beta Blissfull Wulf.

 

Chapter 1 - the first month

 

It took a few minutes for Ryoga to figure out what had woke him up and, more importantly, he wondered why it sounded like a baby crying. He opened dark green eyes when little fists hit his chest, looking into a pair of smaller bright green eyes.

 

"Ryoa!" The baby on his chest yelled, pouting.

 

"Nani.... oh!" Ryoga sat up, cradling the toddler to his chest, as everything rushed back to him. The night before, October 31st, Ryoga had set up camp in the woods in the country side of what he now guessed was England. Late into the night, he had heard an explosion and had rushed over to the source to see if anyone needed his help. The couple inside, a young man and woman only a couple of years older than Ryoga himself, were already gone by the time Ryoga found the house. Ryoga had actually found the house pretty quick to tell the truth for someone with his problem.

 

See, Ryoga had a problem with his sense of direction. The problem being that he had none, it was a type of family curse that just about all of his relatives shared who were born into the Hibiki family had. Both of his parents, Ayako and Ryoichi Hibiki, just so happened to be from two different branches of the Hibikis and had passed the family curse down to their only son. So the fact that he had been able to find the source of the explosion at all was a miracle.

 

Inside of the house had also been the couple’s one year old son Harry Potter, who was currently sitting in Ryoga's lap. Whatever had attacked and killed Harry's parents had either left the baby alone or hadn't been able to kill the tot. The boy currently had a bandage on his forehead under which was a cut that was shaped like a lightning bolt that Ryoga was convinced would scar. Ryoga had ended up taking the one year old boy with him as he hadn't felt comfortable just leaving the tot in a house with a partially blown off roof among two dead adults, one of which had been in the room that he had found Harry in. He had hoped his luck would continue to run with him and allow him to find somebody from the nearby village to tell about the attack, but he had ended up lost instead.

 

"What's the matter Chibi?" Ryoga asked, wondering why the toddler woke him up. "Are you hungry or..." Ryoga's words were cut off as a horrible smell reached his nose and Harry squirmed in his lap. "Oh..." the teen said, looking slightly panicked. He had never taken care of someone as young as Harry before and had therefore never changed a diaper. But how hard could it be?

 

"Ryoaaa," Harry whined. Neither his Mama nor Daddy was here to change him, or even his Padfoo, even though he had called for them. That left his Ryoa to change his nappy.

 

"Alright alright," Ryoga said as he laid Harry down and dragged the bag he had packed for the toddler over. He took out everything he thought he might need: a cloth diaper, wipes and something called talcum powder.

 

When Ryoga peeled back the soiled diaper that Harry was wearing, he nearly gagged at the smell and at the mess he saw inside.

 

"Kami-sama!" Ryoga said turning his head to catch a fresh breath. Harry giggled as he watched Ryoga, finding the teen to be funny. The teen had to place the stinky diaper outside the tent to keep the air clean. Ryoga managed to work around the squirming toddler as he cleaned Harry's tooshie, having to lean to the side to avoid a stream of pee that Harry seemed to aim at the teen. "You little stinker," Ryoga said with a shake of his head. A clean nappy was put on Harry after Ryoga finished cleaning the toddler up and put the baby powder on Harry's rump like Ryoga had seen in a movie once.

 

"Well I think I did a good first job," Ryoga said proud of himself as he lifted Harry up.

 

"Foo!" Harry said giggling as Ryoga gently bounced him.

 

"What?" Ryoga asked.

 

"Ah ahhh," Harry pointed at his mouth. "Foo!"

 

"Oh! Food!" Ryoga said, pulling the bag over again. "Let’s see... how do you make a bottle?"

 

An hour later Ryoga had, with some trial and error, figured out how to make Harry a bottle of milk, using his renewed fire in his camp fire pit and water from a canteen, and fed the toddler a jar of baby food, most of which ended up on Harry's chest.

 

"How did... more food is on you than in you!" Ryoga said in disbelief as he shook his head. Harry just giggled, his face smeared with the gooey foods. "Err... I guess I need to clean you up..." Luckily the water he used to boil Harry's bottle was still warm and he was able to use that. Once Harry was cleaned and redressed in a warmer set of clothing, Ryoga decided it was time to leave and try to find someone to tell them what had happen the night before.

 

The soiled diaper ended up buried as Ryoga had no idea what to do with it. The tent was taken down and packed into Ryoga's travel bag. With Harry on his hip, Ryoga picked a random direction to walk in, he'd come across a town at some point.

 

****

 

"Hmm... maybe if we go this way...." Ryoga said as he tried to figure out the map he was looking at. He was sitting on a park bench, Harry securely in his lap. It had been a couple of days since Ryoga and Harry started to travel together and Ryoga had been so happy to see other people again. He could tell someone what happen to Harry's parents! That joy was quickly dashed however as he discovered that he was in France, and no one knew or cared about the tiny boy he carried.

 

In fact a lot of women thought Harry was his son and he blushed deeply as he remembered the pretty French girls that had fawned over him and Harry.

 

"Well Harry, we're no closer to finding someone you know," He said after a few minutes with a sigh.

 

"Mooie," Harry responded, holding up the stuffed wolf Ryoga had packed for the boy. Ryoga's lips quirked in a smile.

 

"Well you know your wolfie then," He said with a laugh. Harry grinned and wrapped his arms around his Ryoa's neck. Ryoga chuckled, carefully hugging Harry back. The tiny boy was very affectionate Ryoga had discovered which always made the teen smile. He couldn’t help it, Harry was just so cute! Very few dark thoughts had passed through Ryoga's head since he started to travel with Harry, all of his attention was on his little companion.

 

After a few minutes, Ryoga sighed and stood up, Harry still clinging to his neck. They had no business in France so they might as well just go.

 

*****

 

"Ryoa, Pongs," Harry said as he tried to get Ryoga's attention. It was late afternoon and they were in the middle of the woods somewhere. The pair had been traveling together for over a week now. The bandage that had been on Harry's forehead was long gone and just like Ryoga thought, the wound there had started to turn into a scar. Ryoga was in the middle of setting up his tent for the night. "Ryoa!"

 

"In a minute Chibi," Ryoga said distractedly as he set up the poles. Harry pouted, he wanted his toys now! Ryoga's pack started to shake, drawing the teen's attention as the items inside started to rattle. "What the hell?" He said as he reached toward his pack, wondering what was causing the bag to shake. As he touched the traveling pack and opened the top, Ryoga was knocked onto his back as the three stuffed animals inside burst out and flew over to the laughing Harry. Ryoga turned onto his front and watched in amazement as the toys landed around the happily clapping toddler.

 

"Ohhh... magic," Ryoga said as he got up and crawled over to the toddler. "I see, you're a little wizard then, aren’t you Chibi." Ryoga had seen and met wizards and witches before, his lack of direction and his odd ability to end up anywhere in the world had lead the teen to all sorts of different places, some of which had been magic communities.

 

 _'That's what the stick must be,'_ Ryoga realized after a few minutes of watching as Harry snuggled and played with his stuffed toys. _'It was a wand.'_ The night Ryoga found and rescued Harry, the teen had found a wand on the floor of the tot's nursery next to a pile of ash. At the time he hadn't any clue what the stick was, Ryoga had stuck the wand into his pocket and later into his pack which was where it rested now. He chuckled and shook his head; Harry kept his life hopping that was for sure. Ryoga left Harry to his toys as he went back to setting up their tent for the night.

 

A couple of hours later after Ryoga finished setting up camp and had a fire going in the pit he had dug out. Ryoga had been in the middle of carrying back water from a stream a few feet from where he and Harry had stopped for the night. One of Harry's stuffed toys was lying on the ground a few feet away from Harry, right in the middle of Ryoga's walking path which he didn't see until after his foot got caught up in the stuffed dog and it sent Ryoga to the ground. The pail of water Ryoga had been carrying went flying up into the air, seeming to hang in midair for just a second before it came down on top of Ryoga as the boy started to get up.

 

 _'Damn it!'_ Ryoga cursed in his mind as he was soaked with the cold water, feeling the familiar tingling sensation as his body shifted from his normal human form into a small black piglet. It was a curse that Ryoga had picked up in China in a place called Jusenkyo, a training ground deep within the Bayankala Mountains in the Quinghai Province. The training grounds were filled with a great many different size pools, each one with a different form attached to it. Whoever fell in a pool would end up cursed with the form of whatever had drowned there unless it was a clean pool, which meant the pool would be imprinted on that person or creature, or if the pool's form was the same as the being that fell in.

 

Ryoga had been knocked into the spring of the drowned black piglet, or the Heitowennichuan, over a year ago by his rival/friend Ranma Saotome. His curse, like all Jusenkyo curses, was triggered by cold water turning Ryoga into his piglet form called P-chan. Hot water would return Ryoga to his normal form.

 

Ryoga wiggled out of his shirt, looking up at Harry with wide eyes. He hoped he hadn't scared the little boy by his sudden change.

 

"Again! Again!" Harry cheered, laughing and clapping his hands. His Ryoa changed into an animal just like his Daddy and Pafoo did.

 

"Brink," Ryoga gave a piggy sigh of relief, Harry hadn't been scared. In fact the toddler looked delighted by it. Ryoga walked over to his pack and started to use his teeth to drag out his portable stove and a pot. The pig cursed teen checked to make sure Harry hadn't moved then quickly refilled the pail with water. With practiced ease, Ryoga turned on the stove, put the pot on top of the stove then filled it with water. It was an impressive sight as pigs weren't made to be able to do these sort of things. (1)

 

Soon the water was hot enough for Ryoga to tip over on his little body, triggering a second change back into his normal human form. Harry squealed loudly with laughter.

 

"Piggy! Piggy!" Harry said. Ryoga laughed and shook his head while he pulled on his boxers.

 

"Sorry Chibi, P-chan's gone for now," He said as he pulled the toddler into his lap.

 

"No piggy?" Harry said with a pout.

 

"Errr... maybe later," Ryoga offered. _'Way later if I can help it,'_ He added to himself.

 

****

 

Ryoga sighed as he looked at the building in front of him. He had no choice...he had to go in. The teen straightened his back and marched into the building with Harry sitting safely on his hip. He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the bright lights inside the store he had entered. It had been dark outside with clouds heavy with rain, though thankfully it hadn't started raining yet.

 

"Let's see, which way is the baby department?" He asked himself as he wandered around. Ryoga had started to run low on supplies for Harry; he was almost out of diapers and wipes, not to mention he was low on food all together. Luckily Ryoga had come across a store in the middle of which ever city he was in right now.

 

"Can I help you?" A girl's voice asked behind him. Ryoga turned, a girl a little older than him stood a few feet away with a bright smile.

 

"Baby department?" He asked, lightly bouncing Harry on his hip.

 

"Right this way," The girl said. She led the way to the desired department and left Ryoga to his shopping. Ryoga, who had grabbed a basket at the door, started to pick out items his little travel companion needed. He didn't notice the looks he was drawing from girls and young women around his age.

 

"Oh he is so cute," One girl said. "Did you see those fangs?"

 

"And look at the cutie with him. Do you think that's his kid?" Her friend asked.

 

"Could be his little brother," The first girl said. They giggled and followed Ryoga down the aisle as the teen filled up his basket. While Ryoga hadn't really noticed the looks, he did notice that he was being followed around by a pack of girls.

 

"Errr..." Ryoga turned and faced his followers. "Can I help you?" He asked.

 

"You're little boy is _so_ cute," One girl said, twirling a piece of hair around her finger. Harry, who somehow knew they were talking about him, gave the pack of girls a bright smile.

 

"Hi!" He said, giggling as the girls went 'awww' and 'what a cutie!' Ryoga was reminded of the incident in France where the pretty French girls did much the same thing.

 

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Another girl asked, batting her eyelashes at Ryoga.

 

"Umm.. yeah," Ryoga said, blushing under all the attention. He had a girlfriend named Akari back in Japan who trained sumo wrestling pigs.

 

"Awww," The girls said in disappointment that Ryoga wasn't free.

 

Down the aisle, Petunia Dursley sniffed in disdain as she watched the group of silly little girls fawn over the young man holding a little boy. The tiny boy was _nowhere_ near as cute as her little Dudley.

 

"AAHH!" Dudley kicked and screamed as he pointed at a baby toy he just had to have.

 

"Alright Dinky Duddydums, Mummy will get you a toy," Petunia cooed at the squalling toddler. The toddler's cry did draw Ryoga's attention for a brief moment, the eternally lost teen wondering why the skinny woman down the aisle was carrying around a giant, crying beach ball when he realized the 'beach ball' was in fact a very round baby.

 

 _'That cannot be healthy,'_ He absently thought wondering for a second if the woman had dunked her baby into the 'spring of the drowned beach ball' then feeling silly for even thinking that. There was some pretty strange cursed springs at Jusenkyo but he doubted that was one of them. Ryoga's attention was quickly drawn away again as the girls that surrounded him cooed at a giggling Harry who basked in the attention and ended up being led away.

 

By the time Ryoga's shopping trip was over he was fully stocked not only with the things he had needed but also a new stuffed lion that the giggling females insisted that Harry needed and a pocket full of phone numbers.

 

*******

 

Ryoga slowly walked through the woods he and Harry found themselves in. There was something about the forest they were in now that was setting Ryoga on the edge. It was the middle of the day, he could see the sun through gaps in the trees every now and then, but the woods were so dark that it almost seemed like night. Harry whimpered and buried his face into Ryoga's chest, his little fists clinging to Ryoga's yellow jumper.

 

"Shh, I know," Ryoga said rubbing Harry's back with his free hand as dark green eyes narrowed while looking into the woods ahead of them. There was something watching them, Ryoga could just _feel_ it. He reached up and wrapped his hand around the handle of his umbrella, not pulling it out of its place on his travel pack just yet but close to it. He heard the clacking noise right before he sensed something behind him; he swung the heavy iron umbrella out and up to meet the long hairy leg of a giant spider.

 

"Kami-sama!!" Ryoga said loudly in surprise, he had never seen a spider _that_ big before, it was the size of a small house! Wielding his weapon one handed, Ryoga batted the spider's leg out of the way then jumped up into the air above him. His danger sense gave him the warning to twist to the side as another spider rushed him. "HA!" Ryoga slammed the umbrella on top of the spider's head, the spider making a high pitch sound of pain as it tumbled to the ground. Ryoga landed feet first against the nearest tree trunk and used it as a springboard to jump from tree to tree. He could heard the spiders behind him, it sounded like more than the two that had already attacked him and his little charge. One arm was wrapped protectively around Harry, keeping the little one safe though it did hinder Ryoga's fighting ability slightly.

 

Ryoga could see a clearing full of light up ahead, heading for it in hopes he would have more room to fight. The teen burst through the tree line, holding Harry close to his chest as he tucked and rolled along the ground. He bounced back to his feet, facing the spiders that had been chasing him. Most of the arachnids chasing the pair stopped, not wanting to go into the bright light but one eager Acromantula didn't stop, heading right for Ryoga.

 

"Kuso," Ryoga cursed, placing Harry as his feet then cupped his hands in front of him, gathering his chi in between his palms. Harry wrapped his arms around one of Ryoga's legs, clinging to his Ryoa tightly.

 

"Shishi Hokodan!" Ryoga yelled as he thrust his hands out at the Acromantula, sending a ball of green light at the charging spider. Harry screamed in fright, letting go of Ryoga and crawling away from the teen. The chi blast hit the spider, making it scream loudly in pain. The giant spiders at the edge of the tree line clacked loudly to each other before deciding it would be better to leave, grabbing their fallen fellow spider on the way. (2)

 

"Harry? What's wrong chibi?" Ryoga asked as he noticed that Harry was trying to crawl away from him.

 

"No. Ba light!" Harry said as he shook his head.

 

"Oh oh, it's ok Chibi," Ryoga said. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you. Come on, it's ok." Harry looked up at Ryoga for a second then slowly crawled back over, letting the teen gently pick him up. Ryoga glanced back at the way they came, no way they were going back that way, and then picked up his umbrella. He slid it back into its holder on top of his pack then used both hands to hold Harry who was clinging to his shirt.

 

Harry had said 'bad light', he was afraid of his chi attack. He found a tree stump to sit on in the clearing, feeling really bad for scaring Harry. Ryoga wondered if it was the ball of chi that had scared the little wizard or if there had been something else about it that had made Harry think it was 'bad'. Slowly, Harry started to calm down from his fight, looking up at Ryoga with watery green eyes.

 

"What's the matter Chibi?" Ryoga asked, gently wiping the tears off of Harry's cheeks.

 

"Ba light. Hurt Hawwy," Harry said his fingers going up to his forehead where the scar was.

 

"Shhh, I would never hurt you Harry," Ryoga said, rubbing Harry's back. Harry sniffed and laid his head on Ryoga's shoulder, letting the teen hold him gently. Ryoga stayed and held Harry for a while as the toddler drifted off to sleep safely in the martial artist's hold. It was starting to get dark when Ryoga thought it might be a really good time to get lost. Usually he would start setting up camp by this time but with the giant spiders nearby, he didn't want to chance it.

 

Standing and picking a direction that wasn't the way they came, Ryoga started walking. The motion woke Harry from his nap, the toddler yawning and rubbing his eyes as he looked around. He seemed to have forgiven Ryoga for using the Shishi Hokodan as the babe started to babble happily to his current guardian who just smiled.

 

"What are you doing in our part of the forest human!?" Ryoga stopped short in surprise as a figure jumped out in front of him. The figure, a young centaur that looked around the human age of maybe 10 or 11 stood in front of Ryoga with a bow and arrow aimed right at the teen. The boy's hair was inky black as was the coat of the horse half of his body. "Answer me human!"

 

"Bane... maybe he's lost?" Another voice said from behind a nearby tree. This centaur boy looked around the same age as the first one, but with white blond hair and white coat.

 

"Shut up Frienze!" the first centaur boy yelled at the other. The other boy, Frienze, pouted as he stepped out from behind the tree.

 

"Are you lost? It's very dangerous for humans to wonder in this part of the woods" Frienze said, his horse half nearly making him tall enough to look Ryoga in the eye.

 

"We're a little lost, we're trying to leave the woods," Ryoga admitted.

 

"Lies!" Bane said, aiming his arrow at Ryoga again. Harry gave a cute scowl at the centaur boy who kept pointing the weird stick at his Ryoa. Bane yelped in surprise as his bow and arrow suddenly turned into a gathering of butterflies that quickly flew off, making Harry squeal in laughter. Frienze laughed softly as well, covering his mouth with a hand as he watched the other centaur become very flustered.

 

"Bane. Frienze." A man's voice said as an older adult centaur trotted up to the group.

 

"There's a human in our forest Connor!" Bane said as he pointed at Ryoga and Harry. "Two of them!"

 

"The human said he's lost," Frienze added.

 

"Are you lost human?" The older centaur Connor asked.

 

"Yes, very lost" Ryoga said, he was always lost. Connor looked at Ryoga thoughtfully then tilted his head back to look up at the stars that were starting to come out.

 

"Bane, Frienze, return to the colony," the adult centaur said after a few minutes. "I will lead the humans out of the forest."

 

"Chief Magorian won't like that," Bane said.

 

"That will be between the chief and I," Connor said firmly. "Now go!" Bane stomped his front hoof on the ground then turned tail, galloping off into the woods.

 

"Can't I go with you Connor?" Frienze asked. He was always interested in humans, he found them fascinating. Connor sighed softly.

 

"You will already be in trouble with Magorian for being friendly with humans Frienze," Connor said. "I think it is better for you to return." Frienze sighed and turned to go.

 

"Byebye!" Harry said, waving a little hand. Frienze looked over his shoulder and smiled at the little human.

 

"Goodbye little one," He said before trotting off into the woods.

 

"Come, I will lead you out," Connor said to Ryoga. Harry laid his head on Ryoga's shoulder, the teen rubbing the toddler's back to help keep the babe warm. "These woods really are dangerous for a human to enter."

 

"We didn't come on purpose," Ryoga said. "We just... well I did anyway since Harry doesn’t do much walking... wandered in here."

 

"Did you not know what forest you had 'wandered' into?" Connor asked giving Ryoga a look of disbelief.

 

"I have no idea where the hell I am," Ryoga said with a sigh.

 

"You are in the Forbidden Forest next to the human school of Hogwarts," Connor told me.

 

"Still have no idea where I am. What's with the giant spiders?" Ryoga asked. Connor paled slightly.

 

"You have come in contact with the Acromantula and you are still alive?" the centaur asked in shock.

 

"Is that what those spiders were called?" Ryoga asked then shrugged one of his shoulders. "A group of them chased us to a clearing with light. Most of them stopped coming except one. I had to use my chi attack to defeat it."

 

"Chi?" Connor asked. Ryoga explained what chi, or ki as it was known in some parts of the world, was to the centaur. "It is like magic?"

 

"I wouldn't call it magic; it's an energy that everything has, even you. But not everything knows how to use it. It takes special training to learn how," Ryoga explained. "I learned how to channel chi into cloth when I was in my preteens by my Tousan. Then over the last year I learned two other chi attacks. I think there is something called Chi magic but I've never seen it."

 

"I have heard of all living things having their own energy that all life forms share," Connor said.

 

"I think it's sorta the same thing but called different things in different places," Ryoga said.

 

Connor hummed to himself and looked up in the sky at the stars, reading what they said. This was a very different type of human the herd had never heard of before, he may have to bring it up with Magorian at the next elder meeting. "Venus is very bright tonight."

 

"Huh?" Ryoga looked at Connor confused. The corner of Conner's mouth quirked up into a smile.

 

"It is nothing," He said. Venus had been shining brightly since the two humans appeared in the woods, the centaur believed it was for the affection that the older human had for the small foal in his arms. "We are nearly at the edge of the woods near the human settlement of..." Connor turned to tell Ryoga that they were near Hogsmeade but he’d done what no one should do when leading Ryoga Hibiki anywhere, he took his eyes off the Eternal Lost Boy who, true to his nickname, had veered off course and ended up once again completely lost. Connor looked around, trying to spot Ryoga but could not find a trace of him. It was like the strange human had completely disappeared.

 

"Hmmm..." Connor shook his head and turned back to return to the colony. Humans were strange.

 

Meanwhile, in a much safer forest in another part of England....

 

Ryoga blinked as he suddenly found himself in what looked like a lighter, safer looking forest. The centaur that had been leading him was gone and Ryoga sighed as he realized he was lost again. He had taken his eyes off the half-man just for a second to check on Harry who was dozing against this shoulder once again and when he looked up he found himself here. At least here he didn't feel like he and Harry were in constant danger, it would be safe to set up camp for the night at least.

 

*****

 

The rain storm caught Ryoga by surprise. One moment he was walking through yet another forest with little Harry sitting on his hip. Then the next moment, with a crack of thunder, the clouds above them let loose. Ryoga was drenched in no time flat as his cruse was triggered. Harry let out a scream as his support was gone and he fell down to the ground. His magic kicked in to save him from being hurt, the toddler laughing as he bounced along the ground. Ryoga pushed his way out of his shirt, his ears going back as it thundered again.

 

"Brink!"

 

"Ryoa," Harry said as he shivered. The wind was blowing hard and the tot was being pelted by rain. "Hawwy cold." Ryoga's nose quivered as he looked around, not too far away he spotted a cave. All he could hope for was that it was empty as the piglet herded Harry toward it. Inside the cave it was dry and warmer than outside of the cave, they had reached the shelter just in time as the storm really started to kick up outside.

 

Ryoga sniffed the air, giving a piggy sigh of relief as there was no lingering smells of any wild animals in the small cave. Ryoga turned and snuggled up against Harry's side, trying to keep the toddler warm with body heat. Harry flinched and whimpered at every flash of lighting and rumble of thunder.

 

"Breww brink oink," Ryoga did his best to comfort Harry who was still shivering in his wet clothing. He looked out into the rain again, the best thing to do was go get his mini gas stove, at least the heat from the stove could keep Harry warm. "Beee oink snort." Ryoga patted Harry's arm with a little hoof. _'Stay_ _right here Harry, I'll be right back,'_ He thought to the little boy.

 

"Ryoa!" Harry said as Ryoga raced out into the rain. He gave a scream as the sky lit up with lighting again. P-chan slid to a stop and looked back toward the cave. Harry's big green eyes were looking out at him. He gave a soft snort and ran the rest of the way to his pack. He grabbed one of the straps and started to drag it back toward the cave. While as a pig he wasn't as strong as his human from, he was still stronger than a normal pig. Plus he had a 1 year old counting on him which gave him the strength to drag the heavy travel pack back to their shelter.

 

"Ryoa!" Harry squealed as he picked up and hugged the wet piglet as soon as Ryoga had returned to the cave.

 

"Brink!" Ryoga oinked loudly. He patted Harry's back, oinking softly in comfort. "Brink oink brink."

 

When Harry let him back down, Ryoga walked over to the pack and dragged out his gas stove and turned it on. Once it started giving off heat he had Harry sit next to it. Not too close that the little boy could touch it and hurt himself but enough to get warm. Harry's clothing dried after a while and he curled up next to P-chan, his head pillowed on the cursed teen's back.

 

"Oink," Ryoga snorted fondly as he watched Harry sleep then turned back to his stove to watch over it. Soon his head laid down as the heat lured him into sleep as well.

 

A little while later Ryoga was woken up as his danger sense went off. His head lifted off the ground, nose quivering as he sniffed the air. It was still raining outside of the cave but it seemed the worst of the storm had passed. Ryoga slowly stood; leaving Harry curled up asleep, and edged toward the mouth of the cave. There was something outside of the cave but he didn't know what.

 

"Rrraawww!" A large black bear entered the mouth of the cave, roaring loudly.

 

"BRINK!" Ryoga oinked loudly in alarm as his eyes widened.

 

"AAHH!" Harry screamed, woken up by the bear's roaring. The bear took a swipe at Ryoga who dodged to the side to avoid the deadly claws. Ryoga then jumped on the bear’s head, his front hooves moving in a blur as he scratched at the bear’s eyes.

 

"BREE BREE BREE BREE!"

 

The bear growled and knocked Ryoga off its face.

 

"Bink..." Ryoga hit the wall and slid down, slightly dazed. The bear, thinking Ryoga was out of the fight, headed for Harry who screamed again and got up, walking to the back of the small cave as fast as his little legs could carry him. The bear knocked the gas stove out of the way then lifted one of its paws before swiping it down at Harry.

 

"AAHH! Ryoaaa!" Harry screamed as he landed on his bottom. His magic swirled up around him, creating a shield that blocked the bear's attack. Ryoga shook his head to get his bearings back then growled loudly at the bear. Ryoga jumped at the bear and clamped his mouth down hard on the bear's ear. Roaring loudly the bear tossed its head to get Ryoga to let go.

 

Ryoga was flung off of the bear's ear, twisting so he landed on the cave wall feet first and pushed off, becoming a blur as he bounced off the cave wall and off the bear's from again and again. Between the pig-missile and the magic shield Harry had around him, the bear finally decided that what it thought was an easy meal was not so easy after all. Turning the bear ran out of the cave growling and huffing all the way. Ryoga growled back as he stood at the mouth of the cave watching the bear run off into the night.

 

 _'And stay gone!'_ Ryoga thought, snorting loudly. Turning he trotted back over to Harry, pressing his nose to Harry's arm.

 

"Ryoa..." Harry sniffed as he wrapped his arms around Ryoga.

 

 _'Shhh little one...'_ Ryoga thought while he oinked in a soothing tone. _'I'll always protect you Chibi.'_

 

****

 

Ryoga sighed as he rubbed the side of his face. It had been a month, Ryoga guessed, since he had found Harry in that little house on a chilly fall night. It had been a very long and eventful month. He was amazed that he and Harry had never once gotten separated in that time; the Lost Boy thought it may have been the little wizard's magic that kept Harry at his side.

 

Ryoga frowned as he looked around, a blurry look on his face as he rubbed his face again.

 

"Ryoa... bana..." Harry said as he reached up toward the black and yellow bandanna that Ryoga always wore. Ryoga chuckled and pulled a bandanna off, giving it to the toddler to play with. Harry squealed loudly as he was given his new play thing.

 

Ryoga chuckled and placed his free hand on the wall next to him, keeping his hand on it to keep from getting lost.

 

"Where the hell are we now?" He mumbled softly before stumbling out of the alley. He shook his head to lose the memory of the last month and looked around to see where they were at.

 

There were several people walking up and down the street in front of him, dressed in what looked like brightly colored... dresses? Nearby was a large white stone building and Ryoga could see people enter and exit its doors. He figured it wouldn't hurt to try there for help and with that thought in mind, Ryoga headed for Gringotts.

 

*****

 

Author note: This is the first in the one-shot series. This series is a more in-depth look at the years between the time Ryoga found and took Harry Potter from Godric’s Hollow and when Harry went to school. Some of the one-shots will be things mentioned in the main series and some of it will be things that weren’t or haven't been mentioned yet. It will feature all the characters in the Harry Hibiki series, not just Harry and Ryoga.

 

Now, some of the chapters will be longish like this chapter and some might end up being short. For now it's going in order of events but that might end up changing later. And since I’m working on five fanfics at the same time, this will not be updated as regularly as the others.

 

Still I hope you enjoy the side one-shot series of Harry Hibiki.

 

(1) Ryoga has shown that he is able to change back into his human form when in the wild in both the manga and show. He has some sort of system set up with either a stove or knows how to make a fire as a pig.

 

(2) Ryoga's chi is charged by his depression which makes it green. For a toddler like Harry, I'm sure it looks like the same color as the killing curse.

 

Edit 8-28-14: Didn’t have to really change anything except a word or two, my beta caught pretty much all of the mistakes.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry Hibiki - the one shot series

 

Disclaimer: Harry Potter © J. K. Rowling and Ranma 1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi

 

Author note: Thanks to my beta Blissfull Wulf.

 

Author note 2: Another chapter for the side series. I've had a lot of ideas what I want to cover next but decide to cover what happen during the time that Ryoga and Harry were lost in the wild so this chapter is solely based in the Harry Potter world. Next chapter when I get around to it will be with Ryoga and Harry again.

 

Chapter 2 - Meanwhile in the Wizarding World

 

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore sighed heavily as he slid his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his crooked nose. The weight of the war against Lord Voldemort, or as he would always be called in Albus's mind Tom Riddle, was weighing heavily on his mind. Between fighting and doing what he could to run Hogwarts and keep his students safe, the Headmaster felt weighted down by it all.

 

 _'And tonight is Halloween, Tom always had a flare for this day,'_ Albus thought as he slipped his half-moon glasses back on and looked down at the paperwork he had been putting off. A soft trilling noise from the golden perch beside his desk made him smile as the tension bled out of his shoulders.

 

"Thank you Fawkes," He said as he turned his head to look at the crimson red phoenix. The phoenix sang as she spread gold tipped wings out before tucking them back against her sides. (1)

 

Albus chuckled; he didn't know what he would do without the phoenix and her soothing songs. The elderly wizard jerked in shock as a high pitch whistle came from a set of silver instruments that sat on a table on the other side of his office. Fawkes squawked loudly in alarm, her feathers ruffled in the process, while Albus's face paled as he got up and ran over to the table.

 

"Who is it..." Albus asked himself as he looked at the instruments. There were two sets of devices, six in total each one tied to either the members of the Potter or Longbottom family. Dumbledore had set up the items as a way to monitor the health of both families as both had a young son that was the possible target of Voldemort’s because of a prophecy made by his divination professor Sybill Trelawney roughly a year ago. The prophecy stated a boy born at the end of July to parents that had trice defied a certain dark wizard would be marked by Voldemort as an equal and would have the power to bring the dark lord down.

 

The only two baby boys that seemed to fit the prophecy were Neville Frank Longbottom and Harrison James Potter. Albus had convince both boy's parents to go into hiding to protect both boys as one of Voldemort's minions had heard the first part of the prophecy and was determined to kill both boys. Albus's heart sunk as he saw that the silver instrument that had been tied to James Potter was now unmoving and dull in color.

 

 _'Sirius... how could you?'_ Dumbledore thought as he closed his eyes in pain, he had hoped like his cousin Andromeda Tonks nee Black, Sirius Black had escaped serving Voldemort but at last it seemed that in the end the boy was just like the rest of his family. (2)

 

Turning his attention to the other two instruments that were tied to Lily and Harry Potter, Albus held his breath hoping that somehow the muggleborn witch and her son would escape. But he was unsurprised as the instrument tied to Lily gave a similar whistle that James's had and a puff of black smoke rose from it as the color dulled and it stopped moving. Fawkes trilled sadly, her head hanging down. Turning his attention to the last instrument, Albus watched as the final silver device made a short whistle then started to puff red puffs of smoke, meaning that Harry was hurt but alive.

 

"So... Harry is the one who Tom chose as his equal," Albus said softly to himself. His mind was already running, thinking of ways to keep Harry protected. He didn't know what happened to Tom just yet, he needed to go to Godric’s Hollow to the Potter home, which Dumbledore now remembered where it was since the Fidelius charm was broken by its secret keeper, to see what he could find.

 

Writing out a note on a piece of parchment asking Hagrid to go to Godric's Hollow to rescue Harry from the house then he turned to Fawkes.

 

"Bring this to Hagrid would you my friend?" He asked as he held the note out to the phoenix. Fawkes trilled loudly then took the note in her beak before fire flashing away. Once that was done Albus plotted his next course of action. "I need to go to the Ministry," He said to himself, he needed to inform Minister Millicent Bagnold and the Ministry of Magic that Tom was defeated. Grabbing a handful of Floo powder out of a pot that sat on his mantel place and tossed it into the flames. The fire turned green allowing Albus to step inside safely.

 

"Ministry of Magic, atrium!" He called in a clear, loud voice before he was whisked away by the Floo network.

 

******

 

 **"NO!"** Sirius Black yelled in agony as he came to a stop in front of the Potter home in Godric's Hollow. He quickly dismounted his bike and ran quickly toward the house, calling out James, Lily and Harry's names.

 

Sirius had been on his way to check on his friend and fellow Marauder Peter Pettigrew aka Wormtail at the other man's hideout. Peter had been chosen, at Sirius's suggestion, as the secret keeper for the Fidelius Charm that kept the Potter's hidden and safe from the Dark Lord Voldemort. Voldemort, who already held a grudge against James and Lily for the number of times the pair had fouled up his plans, also wanted to kill their tiny son Harry. All because of a prophecy which only Dumbledore knew all the words of.

 

As soon as Sirius had reached Peter's hiding spot he had become worried when he didn't see anyone inside. The house had been cold and it looked like no one had been there in days. Then suddenly Sirius _knew_ where his soul family were located and could even repeat the address out loud. While he already had been included in the secret, Sirius shouldn't have been able to say it out loud which meant that Peter had broken the secret. If Peter had died the Fidelius Charm would have simply passed onto to the Potter's. It was possible that Peter had been captured and tortured until he gave the location of the Potter's but... the house, while unlived in looking, was still untouched and looked like Peter simply left.

 

That lead Sirius to where he was now, running into the Potter home at Godric's Hollow. He could see part of the roof was destroyed and the front door was blown in.

 

If Sirius had arrived a few minutes before he would have found Ryoga Hibiki and little Harry Potter before the younger man left with the toddler in an attempt to find help. But Sirius missed them by just a minute or two, leaving Harry to be watched over and protected by the Japanese teen.

 

"James!" Sirius yelled his voice thick with grief as he fell to his knees next to his best friend. The other man was sprawled out on the ground in front of the stairs that lead to the upper level of the house. James almost looked like he was asleep; his eyes closed and body fresh in death. "Oh Merlin... I am so sorry Prongs... It should have been me, I should have gone ahead and been your secret keeper. I shouldn't have doubted myself... I should have never trusted that little _rat_!" Sirius said as he leaned over James, his forehead resting on his friend's chest. A soft sob escaped him, this was his fault, he was the cause of his only real family's death.

 

"Harry... Lily!" Sirius said as he sat up, remembering the other two members of the house. He scrambled up the stairs and toward Harry's nursery, the door was blown in and a pool of dread settled in his stomach. "Oh Lily," Sirius said with a sob as he saw the red headed woman lying on the floor near where Harry's crib had been. He bit his lip to keep from crying and stepped into the room, looking for his little godson.

 

"Harry? Prongslet?" Sirius called as looked around worriedly, he was afraid his little beloved godson was dead like his parents. His fears eased a little as he searched the room but at the same time increased. He couldn't find Harry anywhere, not even under the crib that looked like it had been tossed across the room. He did find a pile of ash that at first worried him but he realized that it was too large of an amount of ash to be a toddler and plus it had a black robe next to it. Sirius did wonder who in the world the ash pile use to be but he had more important things to worry about.

 

There was no trace of Harry in the room at all. Which was good, that meant it was possible Harry was still alive but that meant someone took him and Sirius had no idea who that was. He also didn't notice that several of Harry's things, like his favorite stuffed animals and his baby book, were missing as well.

 

Sirius became convinced that someone had taken Harry and had a feeling that it had to be one of Voldemort's death munchers, maybe even Peter himself. He growled softly and took off out of the nursery and down the stairs; he was going to make Wormtail pay for betraying James and Lily! He was going to save his little Prongslet! Little did Sirius know, Harry had been taken as stated before and was very safe with his new person Ryoga. But Sirius didn't know that, not yet anyway.

 

"Blimy... Sirius, wha' happ'n?" A big booming voice asked from behind Sirius as the enraged man reached his bike.

 

"Hagrid?" Sirius asked in surprise, it was Rubeus Hagrid, a half giant that worked at Hogwarts as its ground keeper and keeper of keys. "What are you doing here?"

 

"Dumbledo'e sent me," Hagrid said as he looked up at the house with a pale look on his face. "James and Lily... are they..."

 

"Yes... they're dead," Sirius said in a pained voice.

 

"What 'bout little 'Arry?" Hagrid asked, Dumbledore told him to come get Harry from the house after all.

 

"... I don't know, James and Lily's bodies are inside but Harry is missing," Sirius said with a shake of his head.

 

"Dumbldo'e sent me to get him," Hagrid said. Sirius frowned, his grip tightening around the handlebars of his bike.

 

"I don't know where Harry is but I'm about to go ask a rat," Sirius said in a cold voice. "Take my bike and go back to Dumbledore, tell him Harry's missing but I'm going to look for him now," He decided thinking his beloved bike would just slow him down when searching for Wormtail.

 

"Sirius, are you sur'?" Hagrid asked.

 

"Yes," Sirius said with a nod. He pushed his bike toward Hagrid then apparated out of the area with a crack. Hagrid looked back toward the house worried, Dumbledore wanted him to save little Harry and bring him to safety but he couldn't do that if the boy was missing. The large man headed into the house to check for himself, crying as he saw James and Lily's bodies but he didn't find little Harry anywhere. He needed to get back to the headmaster as quickly as possible he decided and took up Sirius's offer to use his bike as he really didn't want to ride the Knight Bus again.

 

********

 

Severus Snape groaned as he came too, slowly sitting up from the cold stone floor of his private potions lab that were a part of his quarters at Hogwarts. A hand came up to rub his forehead only to hiss in pain as his arm where his Dark Mark was branded burned and ached. Grabbing his arm, Severus tried to remember what happened to end up passed out on the floor.

 

He had been making potions for Dumbledore to counteract the potions he had brewed for Voldemort. The Dark Lord had been very quiet the last couple of days with an air of gleefulness around him. He had asked Lucius Malfoy, Voldemort's right hand man and number one financial backer in the war, what had their lord so happy. Malfoy said with a satisfied smirk that Voldemort was close to finding one of the two children he was set to kill.

 

Severus's heart froze in fear both then and now for the woman that he loved Lily Potter nee Evans. He had grown up near Lily in the same town and had been the one to tell the Muggleborn that she was a witch. When they arrived at Hogwarts for their first year, both had been sorted into different houses. He into Slytherin while she went to Gryffindor, two houses of Hogwarts that traditionally were rival houses. They tried to keep their friendship strong but slowly Severus had been draw into the darker parts of his house and in their fifth year had made the very stupid and horrible mistake of calling Lily a 'mudblood', an insulting word for Muggleborns, out of anger after being humiliated by James Potter and his cohorts. Even though he had apologized again and again for it, Lily never forgave him. (3)

 

His arm chose that moment to throb in pain again, knocking Severus out of the past and back into the present. His arm hadn't hurt like this since he had been branded, in some ways it hurt even more. With a shaking hand, the dark haired man let go of his other arm and slowly peeled his long sleeve back. His mouth opened in surprise as he saw the state his mark was in. It was still there but with a faded look to it. The skin around his mark was red and hurt to the touch. He tried to think of a reason why his dark mark, another thing that had been a horrible mistake in his life, had changed. He could only come up with one; somehow, some way the Dark Lord Voldemort had been weakened, his magic was tied to the mark. If the man had died, the mark would be gone altogether but as it was just faded that meant Voldemort was alive but weak.

 

Wrapping his hand around his sore mark again, Severus pulled himself up off the cold hard floor as he tried to figure everything out. His dark, almost black eyes widened as he remembered what Malfoy had said, Voldemort had said he was close to finding one of the two children that might be able to defeat him.

 

"Lily..." He whispered as he tried to think of where she lived and his heart seized in panic when he found that yes he could remember the address. Ignoring the pain his arm was in, Severus dashed out of his rooms, robes billowing around him as ran down the hallways of Hogwarts and out one of the side doors. He then ran across the grounds of the school to the edge of the wards by the school gates and apparated to Godric's Hollow.

 

Dumbledore had promised he would keep Lily safe from Voldemort. In exchange, Severus would spy on Voldemort and report back to the leader of the light. Lily and her family had reportedly been hidden by the Fidelius Charm and that should have kept them safe from the Dark Lord but whoever the Secret Keeper was, he suspected Black, had told Voldemort where the Potter's were hidden.

 

When Severus reappeared, he saw in front of him the Potter home part of which he could see destroyed.

 

"Lily!" He called hoping beyond hopes that Voldemort had for once kept his word and let Lily live. He didn't care if James or Harry Potter had lived or died, just Lily. He ran through the open door way, sneering down at the cold dead body of James Potter. He couldn't help but allow himself to kick the man in the ribs at least once, then ran upstairs where he had seen the most damage.

 

"Lily... no!" Severus yelled in anguish as he fell to his knees beside Lily's body and gathered her to his chest. He rocked back and forth as he cried for the woman he had always loved but could never have.

 

"Severus," Dumbledore's quite sorrowful voice said from behind him. Severus's shoulders stiffened as he was caught crying over Lily. He gently placed her body back on the floor, crossing her hands over chest, then slowly stood to face the older man.

 

"You promised that you would keep her safe," he said in a soft cold tone.

 

"I'm so sorry Severus... James and Lily placed their trust in the wrong person, as did I," Albus said, twinkle gone from his eyes as he looked down at the brave young woman on the floor.

 

"What now? What happened to the dark lord?" Severus asked. He pushed back his sleeve and showed Albus his mark. "The mark isn't gone; the dark lord is still alive."

 

"I have thought as much, somehow young Harry Potter has defeated Voldemort," Albus said, ignoring the flinch Severus gave at hearing the dark wizard's pseudo name. "He is now weak and I believe without a body, but still alive as you said," He added, looking down at the pile of ash and burnt robes on the floor of the nursery.

 

"Lily's son is still alive?" Severus asked. "So he is..."

 

"Yes, Harry is the child from the prophecy you gave to Voldemort," Severus flinched as he remembered that he was just as guilty of Lily's death by stupidly giving his 'master' the first part of the prophecy he had heard that day. "You remember your oath."

 

"Yes... I will keep Lily's son safe when he comes to the school," Severus said softly. Albus nodded while he reached over to lay a hand on the younger man's shoulder.

 

"Return to Hogwarts my boy, with Voldemort's defeat they are rounding up the rest of the Death Eaters," He told Severus. "I will make sure you are kept out of Azkaban."

 

Severus nodded and apparated on the spot back to the edge of the wards around Hogwarts. He walked slowly back to the castle and down to his rooms. Collapsing in a wingback chair by the fireplace that the House Elves had made sure was going, he summoned a bottle of Fire Whiskey. Not even bothering with pouring any into a glass, Severus drank straight from the bottle as he stared into the fire.

 

One thing was for sure, because he killed Lily, Severus would never willingly serve Voldemort faithfully every again.

 

*******

 

Albus sighed sadly as he watched Severus apparate away. Turning his attention to the pile of ash again, he waved the Elder Wand over it, nodding to himself as he confirmed that it was in fact the remains of Tom's body. He worried about just what Tom had done to still be alive without a body.

 

"Tom, what have you done?" He asked himself softly with a sigh. He frowned as he noticed that Voldemort's wand wasn't anywhere in sight and wondered where it was. The headmaster turned to the crib that was lying on its side like it had been thrown across the room. Figuring that Hagrid had just tossed it to the side while retrieving Harry, Albus righted the crib with a spell so he could scan it for residue spells. He was only half right of course, the crib had been tossed out of the way to get to Harry but it had not been done by Hagrid but by Ryoga Hibiki much earlier in the night.

 

A scan showed that the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra, had been cast in the direction of the crib and also showed that it had rebound as well. Mixed in was some sort of spell that Albus didn't recognize but had Lily's magical signature all over it.

 

"What spell did you use Lily?" Albus said, glancing down at the woman's body. He looked around for her wand but like Tom's didn't see it. Whatever she cast didn't need a wand then unless whoever took Tom’s wand took hers as well. He turned back to the crib and he stroked his long white beard, thinking back on what spells Lily had been researching lately.

 

She _had_ asked about spells like Blood Wards. Lily had claimed that she wanted to cast a ward around her sister's Petunia home and property. While the two sisters’ hadn't spoken to each other in a few years, Petunia had been upset that she couldn't join her younger sister at Hogwarts, Lily had still loved and wanted to protect her older sibling. Albus had lent her a book with different spells that related to blood and even life spells.

 

He looked at the crib again, tapping the Elder Wand gently against his hand. Maybe... maybe Lily had used a Blood Ward to save Harry? It would explain her magical signature was mixed with the rebound Killing Curse. It had to be something more powerful than a simple Blood Ward, something that needed more than just an exchange of blood. Lily loved her son very much and knowing where the crib had been originally and where Lily's body was now, she would have been in front of it.

 

 _'If Lily cast a Blood Ward to keep young Harry safe it had to be very powerful,'_ Albus thought to himself, _'to be able to bounce Tom's curse right back at him and destroy his body. I have to make sure the Blood Ward continues to be that strong until Harry is old enough to fulfill the prophecy.'_

 

Albus gently lifted Lily's body with a spell and directed her downstairs. Once there he cast the same spell on James's body and took them both outside. Outside, both Potter's were laid gently on the ground and Albus turned to the house. He cast a spell that would keep everyone out of the house until he took the spell down. It would help preserve the crime scene in case the Auror's needed come and go over it. And it would keep people out he knew would come to steal any items that they could once it got out Harry had saved them all.

 

Once he was finished, he transported the Potters to St. Mungo's then returned to Hogwarts so he could get that book. He needed to make sure the Blood Wards around the Dursleys were ready to connect to the spell Lily used to save Harry. He also needed to send a note to Hagrid to tell him to bring little Harry to the Dursleys home instead of Hogwarts.

 

*******

 

Minerva McGonagall covered her mouth, yawning as she entered the Great Hall early in the morning. There were no students in the Hall yet, in fact Filius Flitwick was the only person in the Great Hall besides her.

 

"Filius," Minerva said as she sat down, her morning cup of tea appearing in front of her.

 

"Good Morning Minerva," Filius said in a slightly squeaky voice. "Late night?"

 

"My lions were hopped up on sugar and chocolate," Minerva said in a slightly deadpanned voice. "Why does Albus insist on loading them up on sweets during Halloween?"

 

"I believe it's a muggle thing," Filius said with a small chuckle. Minerva shared his chuckle and shook her head, Albus and his obsession with muggle sweets, she would never understand it. She reached for a mug that by this time was usually filled with her favorite tea to help wake her up and frowned when she noticed it was empty. "The House Elves haven't sent up any breakfast either," Filius said, waving a hand at the bare plates on the tables.

 

"Odd..." Minerva said slowly with a frown. "The House Elves have never been late before."

 

"I thought so as well," Filius said. "I was about to pop down into the kitchens to see if something is wrong."

 

"I'll join you," Minerva said as she stood up, this was very unusual activity for the excitable race.

 

The two professors left the Great Hall and walked down to the kitchens the next floor down, the Scottish witch tickling the pear on the painting that guarded the kitchens. The pear wiggled and let out a giggle before turning into a door knob.

 

"What in the name if Merlin is going on here!?" Minerva asked loudly as they entered the kitchen and saw that all the House Elves standing around, chatting excitedly and grouped around what looked like copies of the Daily Prophet. "What has happen that breakfast is not on the tables?"

 

This jousted the House Elves into action as several screamed in surprise, they had lost track of time and were late in feeding the students!

 

"We’s sorry Professor McGonagall," The head House Elf said as he stepped forward. "We’s just be very excited about the news."

 

Minerva and Filius looked at each other in confusion.

 

"News?" Filius asked. The House Elf looked up at them in surprise.

 

"Yous not knowing?!" He said. He snapped his fingers in a hurry and summoned two copies of the Prophet, handing one to each teacher. Minerva looked down at the paper in her hands, mouth dropping open in shock.

 

**THE WAR IS OVER, HE-WHO-SHALL-NOT-BE-NAME DEFEATED BY HARRY POTTER**

**Reporter Morticia Lockhart**

**That's right gentle witches and wizards, the war is over!**

**Last night You-Know-Who attacked the home of the Potters. While the details of what happened is not clear just yet, somehow Harry Potter, heir to the House of Potter, survived the attack and somehow defeated the most evil Dark Lord in years! Because of this, already Heir Potter is being called the 'Boy-Who-Lived' by citizens of the wizarding world. Sadly word is that we also lost Lord James and Lady Lily Potter.**

**Already with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named gone, the Aurors are already rounding up his followers the Death Eaters.**

 

Minerva scanned the rest of the article, taking in all the details but not really understanding it. She turned on her heel and walked briskly toward the doors of the kitchen, the copy of the Prophet crumbled in her hand. She now knew what had the House Elves so giddy this morning.

 

"Minerva! Where are you going?" Filius asked as he looked up from his copy.

 

"To speak to Albus!" Minerva called over her shoulder as she left the room. She all but ran through the halls of Hogwarts to the gargoyle that guarded the Headmaster's office. "Lemon Drops!"

 

The gargoyle jumped to the side and allowed Minerva to sprint up the spiral stairwell.

 

"Albus! Albus!" Minerva said as she threw open the door. "Albus have you.... Albus?" She looked around the office, there was no one there but Fawkes and a House Elf. "Where is the Headmaster?"

 

"Headmaster Dumbles says hes be going to a Durslies," The House Elf said.

 

"Durslies?" Minerva repeated confused. She frowned to herself as she tried to figure out who the House Elf meant. That name sounded a lot like Lily's sister last name. "Dursleys?"

 

"Yes, thats who Headmasters Dumbles went to," the House Elf said with a nod. Minerva frowned, wondering why the man needed to see Lily's sister Petunia. Turning, the Scottish witch left the Headmaster’s office and ran back to hers after telling the House Elf to have the other elves pass along the message that classes were canceled today. She knew where the Dursleys lived, dear sweet Lily told her so once. In her office, Minerva dropped the Prophet on her desk and grabbed a map of England from a drawer. Next she went over to the fire place and Flooed to Diagon Alley then apparated to Little Whinging.

 

Once there, she put her map down and transformed into her tabby cat form then picked up the map in her mouth, needing to find Privet Drive.

 

At one street corner Minerva dropped her map to the ground and spread it open to check it. She squinted as she looked from the map, not noticing as a large man exited a house a few feet away and saw her looking at the map. Leaving the map where it was, Minerva walked over to the corner and looked up at the sign, mentally nodding to herself when she saw it said 'Privet Drive'.

 

The large man Vernon Dursley watched the odd cat for a moment before snorting to himself.

 

 _'You are being silly Vernon old-man,'_ He thought to himself as he climbed into his car. _'Cats don't read maps or street signs. The map must have already been there and the cat was just looking up at the sign, must have been a bird sitting on it.'_ Vernon nodded to himself, feeling that there was nothing strange about what he saw. Just a ruddy stray cat, nothing abnormal about that.

 

Minerva jumped up onto the wall between Number 4 and 6 Privet Drive, watching the man back out of the driveway and head toward London.

 

 _'That must have been Lily's brother-in-law,'_ Minerva mused, the man had been unpleasant looking. Her ears twitched as she heard movement inside the house. Looking around Minerva found a cracked open window and walked over so she could see inside the house, watching the woman inside. The woman was skinny with blond hair, looking like a cross between a giraffe and a horse. _'That's Lily's sister?'_ The cat-witch thought in surprise. Petunia looked nothing like Lily at all and she wondered if they were really related.

 

Minerva spent all day watching Petunia as the woman moved around the house and tended to a young child close to little Harry's age. The child was so large that he almost looked like a large beach ball with hair and Minerva was downright disgusted over how Petunia cooed over the toddler and spoiled him rotten. She could also hear and see the telly in the living room of the house, the cat scowling as she heard reports of owls flying during daylight hours and reports of shooting stars.

 

 _'Those fools!'_ Minerva thought to herself, she could understand that everyone was happy that the horrible blood filled war was over but they were going to expose their world to the muggles at this rate! The rest of the day passed the same way with Petunia doting on her son Dudley and trying to spy on the neighbors.

 

Around six in the evening Vernon returned from his work at the drill company Grunnings where he was a director. As he exited his very expensive company car, the large man noticed the cat from that morning sitting on the wall between his and the house next door. Vernon could almost swear the tabby cat was looking straight at him with an expression that reminded him of a very strict teacher back in school.

 

 _'Get it to together,'_ Vernon thought with a shake of his head. He’d had a very weird day, so many strange people out that reminded him of his sister-in-law and her kind. Those people were so... abnormal. But still, the cat was just a _cat_. Nothing for him to be wary of.

 

"Go on, get you ruddy cat," Vernon said, waving his meaty hands at Minerva. The cat's eyes narrowed as she looked back at Vernon but otherwise didn't move. Vernon became slightly unnerved by the look and quickly waddled up to his front door and entered his house where his loving _normal_ wife was waiting for him with a glass of whiskey while asking him how his day was.

 

The tip of Minerva's tail flicked slightly, she did not like these muggles at all.

 

*******

 

Hours after the Dursleys went to bed found Minerva still sitting on the wall watching the house. She had not see Albus once today and she was starting to wonder if she should head back to Hogwarts. It had to be close to midnight and she was starting to get stiff after sitting still for so long on top of a cold stone wall.

 

As she made up her mind to leave, Minerva heard a soft pop from down the street. She recognized the tell-tale sign of someone apparating and turned her head to look down the street. There down the street stood the very man she had been waiting on all day, using that odd little device of his to put out the muggle street lights one by one. After Privet Drive had plunged into darkness Albus started walking toward number 4.

 

As he reached the end of the driveway Albus stopped and a small smile crossed his lips.

 

"I thought you would be here," He said softly. "Professor McGonagall."

 

Minerva jumped off the wall and landed on all four feet. As she walked toward her fellow professor she shifted back into her human form and came to stand beside her boss.

 

"How did you know?" She asked.

 

"My dear Minerva, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly," Albus said with a small chuckle. Minerva huffed as she straightened her robes.

 

"You try sitting on a cold wall all day," She quipped.

 

"All day?" Albus asked with a raised eyebrow. "When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."

 

"Oh yes, everyone is celebrating alright," Minerva said in an impatient tone. "You’d think they’d be a bit more careful, but no! Even the Muggles have noticed something's going on." Minerva turned and pointed at a dark window in the Dursley's house. "I heard it. Flocks of owls... shooting stars... well, they're not completely stupid. They are bound to notice something. Shooting starts done in Kent, I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle, he never had much sense." Minerva's Scottish accent was starting to become more pronounced as she ranted.

 

"You can't blame them," Albus said in a gentle tone. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."

 

"I know that," The witch said irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out in the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothing, swapping rumors," here Minerva gave her boss a sideways glance, hoping that he would tell her what had happen at the Potters. Were James and Lily really dead? Was You-Know-Who really gone? And what about little Harry? But Albus said nothing so she continued. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles have found out about us all."

 

By now Minerva had turned so she was looking straight at Albus. "I suppose he really _has_ gone, Dumbledore?" she asked softly, wanting to know so badly.

 

"It certainly seems so," Albus said, neither confirming nor denying the rumor. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a sherbet lemon?" He withdrew a small paper bag from a pocket in his robes and offered it to the other teacher.

 

"A what?" Minerva asked, taken aback by the question.

 

"A sherbet lemon," Albus said as he reached into the bag and took out one of the hard candies, popping it into his mouth with a small happy hum. "They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."

 

"No, thank you," said Minerva in a cold tone, she really didn't think this was the moment for one of Albus's odd sweets. "As I said, even if You-Know-Who _has_ gone-"

 

"My dear Professor," Albus said in a sighing tone, "surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense; for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort." Minerva flinched at the name. Albus pretended not to notice as he unstuck two of his sherbet lemons before placing another in his mouth. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who'. I have never seen a reason whatsoever to be frightened by saying Voldemort's name." Here Minerva flinched again at the name.

 

"I know you haven't," she said in a mix of exasperated yet admiring tone. “But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know-" Albus gave Minerva a look that made her give a huff before continuing, "Oh all right, _Voldemort_ , was frightened of."

 

"You flatter me,' Albus said calmly but amused. ”Voldemort had powers I will never have." He was quite proud to see that while Minerva still flinched at the name it wasn't as bad as the other flinches had been.

 

"Only because you are too... well..." Minerva tried to think of a word that could describe what Albus was before settling on, " _noble_ to use them."

 

"It's lucky it's dark," Albus said with a small chuckle. "I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."

 

Minerva have Albus a sharp look, she wasn't amused at all. "The owls are nothing to the _rumors_ that are flying around. You know what they are saying? About why he disappeared? About what finally stopped him?" Minerva fixed him with a piercing stare, she had been sitting on that cold brick wall all day just so she could find out the truth from her friend, she wasn't going to believe the rumors or the paper until Albus told her himself that it was true. Albus, however, was busy picking out another sherbet lemon to suck on and didn't answer.

 

"What they are _saying_ ," she stressed and pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up at Godric's Hollow. That he went to find the Potters. That Lily and James are... are... that they're _dead_."

 

Minerva hoped with all her heart that it wasn't true. That James, with his playful boyish smile, and Lily, rolling her eyes at her husband when he pulled one of his pranks but smiling fondly, afterward were fine and were someplace safe. A small gasp escaped when instead of answer and assuring her, Albus simply hung his head in sorrow. "Lily and James... I can't believe it. I didn't want to believe it."

 

Minerva's voice became thick with sorrow as she sat down on the brick wall she had been on as a cat all day. "Oh, Albus..." The wizard reached out and patted her on the shoulder.

 

"I know... I know..." He said in a heavy tone, just as filled with sorrow as she was.

 

"Th-that's not all," Minerva continued, her voice trembling, she remembered what she read in the Prophet that morning. "They are saying he tried to kill their son Harry. But he couldn't. He couldn't kill that sweet little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they are saying when he couldn't kill Harry, Voldemort's power somehow broke, and that's why he is gone."

 

Dumbledore, instead of telling her not to be silly, that Harry is only a year old there wasn't any way he could do something like that, only nodded glumly drawing another gasp from McGonagall.

 

"It's-it's _true_?" She faltered in disbelief. "After all he's done... all the people he's killed... he couldn't kill a little boy?" Minerva thought of all the people killed over the years by Voldemort. She had lost a lot of friends and students, all of them she had mourned for. "It's just astounding... of all the things to stop him... but how in the name of Merlin did the wee bairn survive?"

 

"We can only guess," Albus said. He had some idea of course, there was the prophecy of course and then there was the unknown spell that Lily had used. "We may never know."

 

Minerva pulled out a lace handkerchief from a pocket and dabbed at her eyes under her glasses. At the same time Albus took out an odd watch that had too many hands and little planets moving along the edge that only he could make sense of.

 

"Hagrid's late," He observed as he put the watch away. "I suppose it was he who told you I’d be here, by the way?"

 

"No, the House Elves were the ones who told me where you would be," Minerva admitted as she put the handkerchief away. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me _why_ you're here, of all places?" That had been another question burning in her mind all day. Why would Albus want to come here? What possible reason would he have and why did it take him this long to arrive?

 

"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle," Albus informed her, ignoring the alarmed look crossing his deputy’s face. "They're the only family he has left now."

 

"You don't mean," Minerva gapped at him then scowled as she jumped up and pointed a finger at Number four crying," You _can't_ mean the people who live _here_? Dumbledore, you can't. I've been watching them all day! You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son, I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets! Harry Potter come and live here!"

 

"It's the best place for him," Albus said in a firm tone. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."

 

"A letter?" Minerva sat back on the wall again feeling a bit faint. "Really Dumbledore, you think you can explain all of this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous, a legend, I wouldn't be surprised if today was knows as Harry Potter Day in the future.

 

"There will be books written about Harry, every child in our world will know his name!"

 

"Exactly," The headmaster said as if Minerva had hit the nail right on the head. He gave her a serious look over his half moon glasses as he added, "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk!" Minerva didn't feel the need to point out Harry could already walk and he was well on his way to talking. She had visited her two favorite students enough times that Harry called her 'Mimi'. "Famous for something he won't remember. Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he is ready to take it?"

 

In a way yes, Minerva did see what Albus meant. Harry could become a very spoiled child just like his father James had been before the boy had grown up. But there were plenty of other ways to protect the toddler and keep him from getting big headed other than leaving him here with these Muggles. She opened her mouth to say so then changed her mind, she knew Albus well enough that when the man had his mind set very little would change it. And she was tired, cold, and hungry, she just didn't have the energy to argue the point with Albus right now.

 

"Yes... yes, you're right, of course," She said instead with a sigh. "But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" Minerva eyed Albus's cloak thinking for just one moment that he had the boy hidden there.

 

"Hagrid's bringing him," Albus said, glad that he’d gotten Minerva to see it his way. He really did know best after all.

 

"You think it's... _wise_... to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?" The Scottish witch asked in slight disbelief. She liked Hagrid, he was a good man, but there was just some things that you didn't ask of the half giant.

 

"I would trust Hagrid with my life," Albus assured her.

 

"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," McGonagall said. "But you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to- what was that?" There was a low rumble in the air now that steadily grew louder and louder. Both Professors searched the street for a sign of a headlight. It occurred to them that the noise was _above_ them and they looked up in time for a large motorbike that seemed to fall out of the sky. On its back sat Hagrid who lifted goggles off of his eyes.

 

"Hagrid, at last," Dumbledore said in a relieved tone. The faster they got Harry into the protection of his family the better. "Where did you get the motorbike?"

 

"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore sir," Hagrid said as he hurriedly climbed off the bike. He seemed worried, his large hands wringing together, Minerva noticed that there didn't seem to be a child anywhere with him and became worried and alarmed. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me."

 

"No trouble then?" Albus said with another smile, also wondering where Harry was. Surely Hagrid didn't stick Harry into one of the pockets of his moleskin coat.

 

"Big trouble Headmaster," Hagrid said. "Litt'e 'arry wasn't there." The smile quickly melted from Albus's face and a look of alarm replaced it.

 

"What?" Albus asked.

 

"What do you mean he wasn't there!?" Minerva asked, clutching her hands to her chest.

 

"When I arrived young Siri's Black was there, he's the on' who loan me hi' bike," Hagrid explained. "He said that litt'e 'arry wasn't there and ran off screami'g about a rat. I checked the hous' and he wasn't there. I tried to return to Hog'arts but Fawkes brought yer message Headmaster so I hurr'ed here."

 

"Minerva, Hagrid. Return to the castle quickly," Albus said while taking out the Putter-Outer. Minerva apparated on the spot while Hagrid quickly rode the bike out toward Hogwarts, it wouldn't do to leave a flying bike where Muggles could find it after all. Once both where gone, Albus let out the lights trapped inside his little silver device, lighting up the street once again and apparated away with a crack.

 

****

 

Minerva reappeared on the edge of Hogwart's ward line, changing into her feline from as she could move quicker as a cat than as a human. Halfway across the grounds she heard a crack of somebody apparating then running toward the school as well. Albus, while quite old, was anything but frail. He hiked up his robes a bit and sprinted across the ground, cursing in his head that he hadn't thought to lower the ward enough so he could apparate into the school itself. He could have called Fawkes to fire-port him into his office but he was in such a panic right now at finding out Harry had been missing this whole time he didn't even think to call her.

 

As both teachers approached the school, the doors opened on their own to let Minerva and Albus inside. The portraits whispered among themselves as the elderly wizard and witch-turned-cat raced through the halls to Albus's office. The Gargoyle that guarded Albus's office jumped out of the way to let them hurry by.

 

Once inside his office, Albus ran over to the table where he kept the silver instruments that monitored the Potter and Longbottom families. Minerva changed back and leaned against the wall to catch her breath, watching as Albus picked up one of the items that was emitting white smoke with just a hint of pink. She glanced at the other items on the table. Three of them were still spinning around, bright silver and all three letting out puffs of white smoke. Two of the instruments on the other hand were still and had a dull look to them. There was another item on the table that unknown to Minerva was spelled to monitor the wards around the Dursleys, it would have activated once Harry was safely within the wards.

 

Albus hummed to himself as he cast spell after spell on the instrument in his hand, trying to locate Harry Potter. Every single spell came up negative, wherever the boy was, he had to be behind some pretty powerful wards to block the spells Albus was using.

 

"Fawkes!" Albus said as he turned to his phoenix friend. The Phoenix trilled at her name and gracefully flew over to perch on Albus's arm. "Can you locate the Potter boy?" he asked, Phoenix's could find just about anyone. Fawkes seemed to be thinking, stretching out her magic to look for the toddler. After several minutes the Phoenix trilled sadly and shook her head, she could feel the tiny boy but his location was lost to her.

 

"Well?" Minerva asked as she watched Albus's shoulders slump.

 

"Fawkes is unable to find the boy," He said, letting his companion fly back to her perch. "Whoever has the boy, they are behind very power wards to keep a phoenix from finding them." Minerva gave a soft cry, her hands pressed up against her mouth.

 

"What are we going to do?" She asked.

 

"We will gather the Order and search for him," Albus assured her. "We must not allow the Ministry to know that young Mr. Potter is missing but I will do what I can to question the Death Eaters brought to make sure they don't have Harry hidden away." He was going to start with one Sirius Black once he was caught. Minerva slowly nodded her head, trusting the older wizard to locate the Boy-Who-Lived.

 

"Headm'ster, I got h're as soon as I cou-" Hagrid arrived at the school a few minutes before hand, storing Sirius's motorbike behind his hut then headed up to the Headmaster's office. Albus quickly turned, Elder Wand in hand.

 

"Obliviate!" The spell struck Hagrid in the head, making the half giant stumble a bit and leaned back against the wall.

 

"Dumbledore!" Minerva yelped in surprise. Albus held up a hand to calm her then turned back to Hagrid, gently erasing the events of the day from the man's mind, letting Hagrid think he had been celebrating all day. He wasn't sure just how complete the spell worked thanks to Hagrid's giant blood. A second spell was cast to send Hagrid into a gentle slumber and a House Elf to take the man to his house on the edge of the forest.

 

"Why did you do that?" Minerva asked as soon as they were alone again.

 

"I trust Hagrid with my life but right now it's too important to keep the fact Harry is missing hidden from everyone," Albus explained. Minerva slowly nodded, as kind hearted and hard working as the half-giant was, Hagrid tended to have loose lips at times and let things slip that he shouldn't, almost always without thinking.

 

"Are you sure that is a good idea not to inform anyone that Harry is missing?" She asked. "We could use the resources of the Ministry to find him."

 

"The Aurors and Hit Wizards have their hands full gathering up Voldemort's forces," Albus said with a shake of his head. "We shouldn't bother the Ministry with this. No, the Order of the Phoenix is enough to find young Mr. Potter."

 

"I hope you're right," Minerva said, she wasn't so sure herself about that.

 

******

 

It had been nowhere near as easy as Albus had thought it would be. Two weeks later and the Order was no closer to finding the young hero of the Wizarding World than before. All Albus had been able to find out was that Sirius Black, that traitor, had no idea where the boy was. Dumbledore had a very quick look through Sirius's thoughts and once he determined that Black didn't have the answers he was looking for, left the young man's mind. He ignored everything in Sirius's mind other than finding if Sirius knew where Harry was. He also ignored the verbal pleading coming from Sirius for the Headmaster to please listen to him, that he was innocent.

 

A great deal of the Death Eaters already caught had said the same thing and while Albus believed that many, like Severus, deserved second chances Black did not. He left Sirius's fate to Barty Crouch Sr, assuming Black would get his trial like everyone else; he had more important things to worry about. This of course would bite Albus in the arse many years later, if he had taken a moment to really look through Sirius's mind or at least listen to the Black heir, he would have discovered that Sirius hadn't been the secret keeper, letting Peter the real traitor take his place. But Albus let his anger at Sirius and worry about Harry cloud his thoughts; he was only human after all and nowhere near as perfect as many people held him. And Crouch had no plans of giving Sirius his trial, throwing the man into Azkaban without nary a thought and making sure all the papers on Sirius were hidden so no one would ever discover than Black had never been tried.

 

 _'Where could that boy be?'_ Albus thought to himself as he removed his half-moon spectacles and rubbed the bridge of his crooked nose. Fawkes cooed softly to her wizard friend, she was worried as well. Albus gave his feathered friend a fond, thankful smile.

He had met Fawkes years ago, right after his dear Gellert, it still hurt to think about the man he had once loved, had run off. He had still been reeling from the death of his sister Ariana, the fight with his brother Aberforth and Grindelwald, and the betrayal of the man that would become one of the darkest wizards one day. It had been an odd little meeting, one day Albus had been wandering the grounds of Hogwarts as he had returned there to take over the post of Transfiguration professor, his mind filled with sorrow and dark thoughts. Suddenly a lovely song drifted on the wind and reached Albus's ears, the tune lifting his spirits in a way they hadn't been in a long time.

 

When he looked around for the source, Albus found the beautiful red and gold phoenix sitting on the branch of a tree above him. He locked eyes with the phoenix and felt a very light touch to his mind. While there were no real words, the fire bird expressed her wish to bond to him as his familiar. What could Albus say but yes, a wild phoenix had come to him and offered to bond... with him... maybe his soul wasn't as dark as he thought it had been.

 

When he chose a name for his new friend, Albus had thought Fawkes was a male phoenix, it was only days after when he called Fawkes a boy he had learned that the phoenix was a girl. By then it was too late to give her a new name but she didn't seem to mind that she had a male name. Albus chuckled to himself again, he didn't know what he would do without the phoenix.

 

Fawkes, as if she sensed he was thinking about her, cooed and trilled again. A sigh left Albus's lips as he closed blue eyes and leaned his head back. He felt so tired right now, in-between looking for Harry, running the school and attending all those trials, Albus hadn't had any time to really sleep. There had been use of a lot of Pepper-Up potions the last few days to keep him going. It was quiet now though and Albus thought he might be able to at least doze a little to refresh his mind.

 

It seemed almost as soon as he settled down Albus was startled awake by a blaring whistling alarm. He jumped up, his wand pointed in front of him as his heart raced and eyes widening as he realized it was the alarm set to the silver instrument that monitored Harry's health. He rushed over to the table and just at that time he found that it wasn't the spinning, silver top tied to Harry that was blaring but another odd silver item on the table. A second instrument started to wail out an alarm as well, both of these items were tied to the Longbottoms! In the weeks since Harry went missing, Albus had forgotten to deactivate the monitors on Frank, Alice and their little son Neville. Now the monitors were telling him that both of the elder Longbottoms were in a lot of pain, someone had attacked them.

 

Albus spun on his heel and raced over to the fireplace to warn the Ministry that two of their Aurors were under attack!

 

*******

 

"I am sorry Lord and Lady Longbottom," a male healer wearing a mint green healer's robe said as he stood with Adair and Augusta Longbottom outside of their son Frank and daughter-in-law Alice's room at St. Mungo's. "The damage from the Cruciatus curse was just too great, I do not think either of them will ever recover." (4)

 

"What would you have us do Healer Spleen?" Augusta asked, holding her head up high. Adair admired the control his sometimes too serious wife had, she would never cry at least not in public. Augusta would _never_ cry in public where everyone could see her. No, once they returned home, his wife would let the tears come and grieve for their beloved son and even their daughter-in-law. Adair on the other hand had let a few tears escaped and turned away from his wife and the healer to look into the room where Frank and Alice were now, a few other healers casting spells over them to see if _anything_ could be done. (5)

 

His poor son! Frank had been in the prime of his life, a top Auror and a very loving father. And his sweet daughter-in-law Alice... Adair shook his head sadly, what a tragedy he thought.

 

As the elderly man stared into the room, his thoughts drifted back to a scant couple of hours before. One of their House Elves had come to tell them an Auror was waiting in the front parlor and with the feeling of lead in his stomach Adair had gone to great the Auror. He felt the rug pulled out from under him when the Auror had told him that Frank and Alice had been attacked by followers of the Dark Lord Voldemort. Rodolphus Lestrange and his younger brother Rebastan and of course his crazy wife Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black! And they weren't alone, Barty Crouch's son Barty Jr. was there as well! All of them had tortured Frank and Alice to the state that they were in now. Thinking of Frank and Alice made him think of poor little Neville, his beloved grandson.

 

"Healer Spleen, have you heard anything about our grandson?" Adair asked, turning to the healer.

 

"Little Neville will be just fine, we couldn't find any magic, harmful or otherwise on him other than a quick shielding spell," Healer Spleen assured him. "You will be able to take him home with you when you leave. Sadly, your son and daughter-in-law will not, I'm afraid they will have to be transferred to Janus Thickey Ward."

 

Adair closed his eyes and nodded, turning away from them. He could hear Augusta speaking to the healer again, no doubt arranging everything for Frank and Alice. Thank Merlin that Neville was alright, Adair didn't know what he would do if his grandson were in the same state as his parents.

 

"Adair..." Adair turned his head to the soft sound of his name being spoken. In front of him stood Albus Dumbledore, not quite a friend but Adair thought he was a good man. "Adair I am so sor-"

 

 **"YOU!"** Augusta cut Albus off, marching up to the man and pointing a bony finger into his face. "This is your fault you daft old goat!"

 

"Augusta!" Adair said as he reached over to grasp his wife's shoulder. Augusta Longbottom angrily shrugged his hand off, she was going to have her say. Albus just stood in front of her quietly with his hands clasped under his long white beard and no presence of a twinkle in his blues eyes.

 

"I will have my say Adair," Augusta hissed at her normally happy, joking husband then turned back to the object of her wraith. "If you hadn't convinced Frank and Alice to join your order of the flaming chicken or whatever you called it, the Lestranges and Crouch wouldn't have come after them!"

 

"Madame Longbottom, I know that you are upset but I had nothing to do with Rodolphus Lestrange, his wife and his brother or young Barty attacking them," Albus tried to say.

 

"Don't tell me that," Augusta said. "It was well known they were a part of your silly little 'Order' and they attacked my _son_ with the idea that he knew where their twisted master was being held. Stay away from my son Dumbledore, and stay away from my grandson while you're at it!" Augusta turned on her heel and marched into the room as the other healer's left to sit by Frank's bedside. Adair let out a shaky breath, he was glad that his wife hadn't started throwing curses and hexes around. She was mad enough to right now.

 

"Albus I'm sorry about that," Adair said softly.

 

"No, I can see her point," Albus said with a sigh. It had been a nightmare all morning, even with his report to the Aurors that the Longbottoms had been attacked, it still took time to break down the wards that no doubt one of the Lestrange brothers tossed up. By the time the Ward Breakers had taken down the wards, both Frank and Alice had been kept under the Cruciatus curse for much too long, leaving them with their minds completely gone. Albus almost wondered if it would be kinder to ease their pain by... well by killing them. But he knew neither Adair nor Augusta would agree to that and neither would Alice's family. And Albus felt bad for even thinking it, he hoped that one day they might be able to invent a spell or potion that could help the poor couple. "Part of me wonders if perhaps she is correct. Maybe young Frank and Alice were attacked because of their place in the order."

 

Albus also wondered if this had to do with the prophecy, after all Neville could have been the boy that Tom picked. Yes young Harry in the end was the one the prophecy spoke about but maybe fate still had plans for Neville as well.

 

"I don't know Albus, I think Augusta just wants someone to blame," Adair said with a shrug. "I am laying mine on the Lestranges and Crouch, I don't know what their reason was or if it has anything to do with your order. Maybe it was because they were some of the best Aurors the department had and were capturing Death Eaters left and right. We'll never know, I doubt any of them will say the real reason why." Albus nodded along with this, Bellatrix was too far gone, the Black blood in her mixed with the dark dangerous magic’s she used warping her mind and the Lestrange brothers just going along with whatever she wanted. He had no idea _what_ happened with Barty Jr, Barty Sr was at the DOM the last time he saw him spitting nails.

 

"The trials will be tomorrow," Albus informed the other man who nodded his head.

 

"I will be there at the least," Adair said. "Now if you excuse me, I'm sure my grandson could use a friendly face." Albus forced a grandfatherly smile and nodded his head, sighing softly to himself as he watched the other man leave. What a mess....

 

*******

 

Albus slowly walked up the stairs to Gringotts, it was roughly a week after the attack on the Longbottoms and the last trials of the Death Eaters had just ended. He missed one or two of them but he had made time to search briefly the minds of all of Voldemort's followers to see if any of them had little Harry Potter or knew where he was. That had been a dead end, no one knew anything about the boy. In fact, all of the Death Eaters all thought Harry was hidden away somewhere. The trails had been rough and a great deal of people had gotten off, like Lucius Malfoy, by claiming that they had been under the Imperius curse. Albus hadn't believed it but the courts had and he was unable to do anything about it. He had at least gotten Severus off just like he promised by vouching for the potion master. Severus was at Hogwarts right now recovering from his very brief stay in the Ministry holding cells.

 

So, without any other leads to where the boy could be, Albus had returned to Godric’s Hollow. He had searched the house again but had turned up no clues other than some of Harry's clothing, a few toys and his baby book that Lily had bought being gone. He hadn't noticed it the first time, hadn't even thought to look, as he thought Hagrid had picked Harry up from his home. As Albus had thought Petunia would have everything to take care of a very young toddler, after all she had a son that was only a month or two older, he hadn't asked Hagrid to take anything.

 

So whoever had the boy had left prepared. Searching the yard around the house had yielded nothing and after almost a month after that Halloween night he really wasn't surprised. Next he had searched the woods and had stumbled across the remains of a fire pit. He couldn't tell how long the fire pit had been there but without any other ideas... Albus cast a few detection spells, looking for anything that would be connected to Harry. He hadn't thought he would find anything but he did, buried under the ground was an old soiled diaper. Nothing of use but he knew Harry had been here at some point.

 

Sadly that was all he could find but Albus thought maybe now he was on the right track. Maybe some muggle had taken the boy? It didn't explain why he couldn’t find Harry with tracking spells or why Fawkes couldn't find the boy but it was the only idea he had left.

 

That lead him to where he was now, Albus still planned on having Harry live with Petunia until he was ready to come to Hogwarts so Harry would both be under the protection of the blood wards and away from the wizarding world so his celebrity status wouldn't go the boys head. He was the son of James Potter after all and while James had a good heart he had been quite spoiled as a child. It was only fair that Petunia was to be paid for Harry's upkeep, after all having two children to take of might be a bit of a burden on their money.

 

"Yes?" A Goblin teller said as Albus walked up.

 

"I would like to see the Potter account manager," Albus said with a pleasant smile. The Goblin gave him a bored look then snapped his fingers to call over a lesser Goblin to lead him.

 

*****

 

Potter account Manager Rustyspoon looked up and frowned as someone knocked on his office door. It wasn't a very well known fact that Goblins, once they were adults and had done a great feat in battle or in the fight arena back in the Goblin caves, could chose a different name than the one their parents gave them. Most chose names like Sharpblade or Wartooth but he had gone with Rustyspoon.

 

It was completely a muggleborn's fault, he had heard a young muggleborn woman threaten to gut someone with a dull rusty spoon. At first the idea was laughed off but the more he thought about it Rustyspoon had realized that it would take a lot of skill and would be very _painful_ to hurt or even kill someone with a rusty spoon. That had appealed to the bloodthirsty side of the Goblin and when he explained his choice of name to his fellow Goblins, they had agreed with him.

 

"What?" Rustyspoon bit out at the door.

 

"Albus Dumbledore is here to see you," The younger Goblin said as he opened the door. Rustyspoon scowled mightily, wondering what that irritating human wanted now. Albus wasn't very well liked by the Goblins, of course they didn't like most people so that wasn't much of a stretch, but the Headmaster of Hogwarts tended to really get under his skin.

 

"Show him in," Rustyspoon said, waving his hand. The other Goblin just bowed and stepped back, opening the door further to allow Albus to enter the office.

 

"Manager Rustyspoon," Albus said with a smile as he took a seat in one of the chairs across from Goblin. "I hope you are doing well today."

 

"What do you want?" Rustyspoon asked in a clipped, business like tone. The smile on Albus's face didn't even falter.

 

"I would like to set up a monthly payment from the Potter vaults to Petunia Dursley for the care of Harry Potter," the wizard said.

 

"Do you have proof that Heir Potter is living with this Dursley woman?" Rustyspoon asked.

 

"I'm sorry?" Albus asked.

 

"Lord Potter has given permission before his untimely death that if need be his son's caretaker could access a certain amount within the vaults for the boy's care," Rustyspoon said. "But to set up a payment account from the Potter vaults, we would need proof that Heir Potter is within their care."

 

"Well he's not there just yet, but I'm sure his aunt will greatly appreciate having the account already set up ahead of time," Albus tried.

 

"Then she will just have to be disappointed," Rustyspoon said. "Until you give us proof that Heir Potter is in Petunia Dursley's care, no account will be set up." Albus frowned and tried to give the Goblin his best disappointed look but Rustyspoon was unmoved. "If that is all?"

 

Albus gave Rustyspoon another disappointed grandfatherly look as he stood but when the Goblin's expression didn't change gave a soft sigh and left the office, lead back to the lobby by the same lower Goblin. Once Dumbledore was gone Rustyspoon allowed himself to frown worriedly and quickly left his office to inform the branch director and leader Ragnok of the incident.

 

*****

 

Albus sighed to himself as he headed up the path to the school after his fruitless visit to the Goblins. Why couldn't they understand that it would just be better to go ahead and set up the account? After all Harry was going to live with his aunt anyway and this hassle could be avoided.

 

 _'Well I'll cross that bridge when I come to it,'_ he decided, he had to step up his search for Harry now. Up ahead he spotted Hagrid leaving the Forbidden Forest and smiled. "Good afternoon Hagrid," he greeted.

 

"Urm?" Hagrid looked up at the greeting and returned the smile. "Oh, good aft'enoon Headmaster." The half giant had a bit of a distracted look on his face.

 

"Is something the matter?" Albus asked when he noticed.

 

"What?" Hagrid said then quickly shook his head. "No no, not really. I was jus' talkin' to Connor, you know from the Centaur herd?" Albus nodded, he had met the Centaur a couple of times but Hagrid was usually the one who dealt with the Centaur herd. "'e was jus' telling me that a coup'e of nights ago a you'g man and hi' kid was in the forest."

 

"Oh my, are they alright?" Albus asked.

 

"Connor sai' they we'e fine and escor'ed the dad back to edge of the for'st near Hogm'ad," Hagrid said. "But then h' said that the man and th' kid disappear like they we'en't there to begi' with."

 

"I'm sure the father just apparated once they were safe," Albus assured him. It was worrying that a young man had wandered into the forest, it was dangerous with all the dark creatures inside and of course the Centaur herd didn't like people coming onto their lands, and the fact the man had a child with him... Still it sounded like somebody just took a wrong turn or had apparated to the wrong location. "Just put it out of your mind my friend, everything seemed to have worked out."

 

"Yer right Headmaster," Hagrid said with a forced smile of his own. Albus smiled and patted the larger man on the arm, which was the highest he could reach on Hagrid, then continued up to the school.

 

******

 

The following weeks leading up to the end of November went quickly. The search for Harry yielded no results, not even searching the Muggle world, and many members of the Order had started to search less and less as their lives were taken over by other things. Even Albus and Minerva found themselves too busy to really search even if their world was now calm. But they still had students in Hogwarts to take care of and exams to give before the Christmas holidays.

 

Some of the Order of the Phoenix were still searching like Remus Lupin, a good friend of the Potters. Albus had him leave to the continent in case Harry was brought there.

 

Minerva found herself at the head table within the Great Hall one cold December morning when an owl swept in and landed in front of her, holding a leg out.

 

"Oh," Minerva blinked at the sudden appearance of the owl, most owls waited until she was in her office to deliver her mail. As she took the offered letter she noticed that the crest on the front was from Gringotts. Once the letter was taken the owl flew off without waiting for a response.

 

"Problem?" Albus asked as he watched Minerva open the letter and read it.

 

"No, just Gringotts requesting help on a transfiguration issue," Minerva said as she put the letter to the side. "I'll head there after breakfast." Thankfully it was Saturday which meant there weren't any classes that day.

 

"Of course, I'm sure it's nothing serious," Albus agreed, putting the whole thing out of his mind.

 

*****

 

Author Note: I have thought long and hard about what sort of Dumbledore I would use for this series and I know not everyone will like my idea of him. I know from reading the comments on the other story that there is a lot of hate for Dumbledore and wishes for me to do stuff to him like turn him into a rabbit.

 

That said, I don't think Albus Dumbledore is evil but instead misguided. He is very manipulative and has a habit of treating people like chess pieces but I think he does it with the best intentions at heart and will even try to see the best in people. He's so used to people looking up to him and letting him tell them what they should do that it's stuck in his head that he knows better than everyone else and only wants what is for the 'Greater Good' without stopping to think if it really is for the greater good or not. And once he gets an idea in his head he's bull headed about getting it done his way, like make Harry live with the Dursleys even though they are some of the worse people to stick the kid with.

 

So he's manipulative but good hearted and will in time bash heads with people who don't look up to him as a kind grandfatherly man and won't let him push them around (AKA the Nerima Wrecking Crew).

 

(1) Spoiler for those also reading the main series, this universe Fawkes is a female. The reason why will be made clear much later in the books.

 

(2) I've seen a lot of stories that have it where Dumbledore always knew Sirius wasn't the secret keeper and had him put in jail to keep him from Harry. But it could have been that he really did think Sirius was the secret keeper and the Potters never told Dumbledore for whatever reason. In that case he really did think Sirius was the traitor, Dumbledore doesn't know _everything_ after all despite what he and everyone else thinks.

 

(3) I'm not sure which year that this happens in, I couldn't find that out so I just assumed it happens in the fifth year.

 

(4) In the fifth book, Neville Longbottom said he could see the Thestrals because he saw his grandfather die when he was around 5 years old. The grandfather could have been Alice's father or Frank's. I went with the grandfather being Frank's father because the man seemed to know Neville's grandmother really well. I chose Adair as the name because it means 'Oak Grove' and it just seemed to fit.

 

(5) Helbert Spleen is a healer for St. Mungos in the books.

 

Edit 8-28-14: Only one or two speller/grammar mistakes had to be fixed.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry Hibiki - the one shot series

 

Disclaimer: Harry Potter © J. K. Rowling and Ranma 1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi

 

Author note: Thanks to my beta Blissfull Wulf.

 

Chapter 3

 

Petunia hummed happily as she straightened up her living room in her home, her perfectly normal home where no strange things happened. She glanced over at the playpen where her beloved son Dudley napped. A smile crossed Petunia's face; her little Duddydums was getting so big! He was going to be a fine strapping lad like his father, she could already see it.

 

The house was nice and quiet right now as Dudley slept, Petunia loved her son to death but the quiet that came when he slept helped to ease any headaches she might have. Petunia sat down on her couch and happily sipped at her Earl Gray tea, in her little white china cups with little blue flowers painted around the rim. The last month had been perfect as the news of strange happenings all around Great Britain died down.

 

A scowl crossed her face, she was sure it was those freaks that Lily got herself tangled up with. Her foolish little sister, letting herself become a freak to do freaky things like make apples dance across the table. Sometimes Petunia was convinced that if that awful Snape boy hadn't stepped into their lives and convinced Lily she was a witch, Petunia's life would have continued as normal without...magic... entering it. She completely disregarded that she had wrote to Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster to Lily's freaky school, begging to be let into the school as well. That was one shameful little secret, one moment of weakness, that she was determined to never let see the light of day.

 

 _'No, everything is perfect now,'_ Petunia thought with a blissful smile. Her sister and her family were out of her life, letting Dudley grow up without knowing the horror of magic. She thought about what she should do that day, Christmas was in a few short weeks and this year Dudley was old enough to enjoy it. She had so many gifts she had to buy her precious little son and a Christmas dinner that would be the talk of the street for weeks!

 

**Knock-knock-knock**

 

"Now who's that?" Petunia muttered to herself as she placed her tea cup in a white matching saucer and straightened the skirt of her dress as she headed for the door after glancing at the playpen to make sure Dudley was still sleeping. She wasn't expecting anyone today. "It better not be another door-to-door salesman," she said to herself softly, making sure her hair was perfect before opening the door with her best hostess smile on her face.

 

"Yes, may I he-" Petunia blinked as she opened the door to her house but saw no one.

 

"Ahem," A voice said from _below_ her. Petunia blinked and nearly let out a shriek as she held up a hand to her mouth in surprise. Standing on her doorstep was a short, muscular man wearing an expensive looking suit.

 

"Oh! I'm sorry," Petunia said as she eyed the suit, her mind running as she tried to think of why somebody who looked very wealthy was paying her a visit.

 

"Mrs. Dursley, I am wondering if I might have a moment of your time," The man said in a short, clipped voice.

 

"If you're here to see my husband, he won't be back till this evening," Petunia said. "Or you can make an appointment at his office at Grunnings."

 

"I am here to see you madam," The man said, "not your husband. This is a matter of great importance." Petunia gave a quick look around; she could see her neighbors who were just as nosey and gossipy as she was looking out their windows and doors.

 

 _'Maybe it's about an inheritance,'_ Petunia thought. _'Wouldn't that put a bee in number 6's bonnet.'_ That brought a smile to her face and she stood to the side to let the man in.

 

"Can I offer you some tea mister- **EEEK!"** Petunia had shut the door and turned around to offer the man some tea before they got down to business only to find a short ugly creature in her nice clean living room instead of a short man. "What are you doing here? You! You're one of those things from that bank in.. in _that_ place." Petunia tried to keep her voice under control as she quickly moved to stand protectively in front of the play pen.

 

"I have no plan of wasting my time here anymore than I have too," the now revealed Goblin said in the same clipped voice. "If you would calm down, I will be on my way as soon as my business is concluded."

 

"Fine, what do you want then?" Petunia asked she wanted the Goblin out of her house as soon as possible.

 

"I am Ragnok, the Director of the Wizarding Bank of Gringotts," The Goblin introduced himself. "I do not know if you received word as of yet, but your younger sister Lady Lily Potter nee Evans and her husband Lord James Potter were killed on the night of October 31st."

 

"Is that all you have to tell me? That my freak of a sister and her freaky husband got themselves killed?" Petunia said with a sneer. "I knew she would get herself killed off if she stayed in that world."

 

"If you are quite finished," Ragnok said coldly, he had a great respect for Lily Potter and he would be damned if he was going to listen to this human woman bad mouth her. Petunia flushed, her lips pressed together in a thin line. "As I was saying, your sister and brother-in-law were killed but your nephew Harry Potter survived."

 

"What does that have to do with me?" Petunia asked.

 

"It is possible that Heir Potter could be given to you to be raised," Ragnok said. An angry flush crept up on Petunia's face.

 

"No! I will not have that... that... _thing_ in my house!" Petunia yelled. Dudley woke up with a loud wail at Petunia's yelling, the tall skinny woman spinning around to pick up her large son and cradling him, soothing him quickly.

 

"Believe me madam, almost no one wants Heir Potter to live with you either," Ragnok said coldly. "I am here to offer you a way out."

 

"A way out?" Petunia asked, setting Dudley back down in his playpen, handing him a bunch of toys to keep him happy and quiet then turned back to the Goblin. "How do you mean?"

 

"There is a young man that agreed to adopt Heir Potter," Ragnok said. "As Heir Potter's closest blood relation on his mother's side, you could sign away all rights to your nephew as well as consent to the adoption."

 

"And that will keep the boy away from my family?" Petunia asked. When Ragnok nodded, Petunia quickly made her decision. "Fine. Where do I sign?"

 

Ragnok walked over to the coffee table, taking out a file folder with papers inside and a scroll of parchment.

 

"Sign by the X's on the mundane papers," Ragnok instructed. Petunia grabbed a pen from a drawer and quickly signed all the papers. But when she reached for the scroll to sign it, the Goblin stopped her. "You will have to sign the parchment with a quill," he said as he took out a case from a pocket. When he opened the case, Petunia saw a long, thin, black quill that had an extremely sharp point. He handed the quill to the woman who just sniffed in disdain but quickly signed her name to the scroll.

 

"Ouch!" Petunia yelped as a sharp pain shot up her hand. She looked at the back of her hand where she could see in thin red lines her name carved into her flesh. "What is this!?" She asked as she held up her hand.

 

"To make this legal in the Wizarding World, you must sign your name in blood," Ragnok said as he picked up the dropped quill and placed it back in the case. Petunia looked at the scroll and shuddered as she saw her name scrawled out in her blood. "Therefore, you must sign in a blood quill."

 

Petunia muttered something about 'the work of the devil' under her breath as she stood up.

 

"Will this scar?" She asked as she held her hand close.

 

"No, not from this one time use," Ragnok said as he gathered up the paperwork and the scroll. "Thank you for your business madam." As Ragnok headed for the door, the glamour reappeared, looking once again like a short, stocky man. The Goblin stopped at the door and looked back at the Muggle woman. "I will send a copy of the paperwork for you to keep, just in case someone comes to question you. You will have what you need to keep Heir Potter away from your family."

 

"Get out," Petunia hissed, she was done dealing with all this freaky stuff. She just wanted to get back to her normal life. Ragnok said nothing as he turned back and opened the door. Petunia sat down on her couch again, holding her hand still as the door slammed closed.

 

"MA!" Dudley yelled after a few minutes of quiet.

 

"In a minute Popkin," Petunia said softly as she stood up, she needed to wash the blood off and bandage her hand before picking up her son again. Later, when her nosy neighbors asked what the visit had been about, Petunia quickly came up with a story about how Ragnok had been a lawyer who informed her that her poor, foolish younger sister had passed away. Since she couldn't tell anyone that Lily had 'gotten herself blown up', Petunia claimed that Lily and her lazy good-for-nothing husband James had been killed in a car wreck. To really play it up, she sniffed and cried crocodile tears at how they cut short her 'poor innocent nephews' life short as Harry had been in the car with them.

 

Petunia ate up the words of comfort the ladies of Privet Drive gave her as she hosted her little afternoon tea parties. When her husband Vernon asked what happened, she gave him a similar story then told him to put it out of his mind. When asked why her hand was bandaged up, Petunia lied and said that she had cut her hand during her distress of her sister's death.

 

******

 

Ryoga's green eyes fluttered open as he groaned. He slowly sat up, pressing a hand to his head. He tried to remember what had happened, he felt a bit woozy and light headed, he must have passed out from blood loss again.

 

 _'Gee, did Ranma flash me in his girl form again?'_ Ryoga thought to himself. His whole body felt weird and his center of gravity was off by a bit. Frowning, Ryoga looked down at himself and let out a girly squeak. "I'm a girl! Wait..." Ryoga blinked again and shook _her_ head, now she remembered.

 

"It worked, I can't believe it, it worked," Ryoga said with a laugh. Her curse, it wasn't gone, but at least she didn't turn into a pig anymore! She blushed slightly as she suddenly realized she wasn't wearing anything but a robe, pulling it tighter around her body. "Where?" Ryoga sat up and began to look around for Harry. Last thing she remembered they were in that room with the goblins and the older woman who had been introduced as Minerva McGonagall before blacking out from a nosebleed after seeing her own naked form.

 

Tension bled out of Ryoga's shoulders as she found Harry sleepily peacefully in a small crib a few feet away from her. Her soon-to-be adopted son made little cute sleepy noises in his sleep as he curled around his little stuffed stag.

 

Now that she knew Harry was safe and nearby, Ryoga staggered to her feet, one hand fisted in the folds of the robe to keep it closed. Looking around again, Ryoga spotted a mirror on one wall and quickly walked over to it. She wanted to see what her new cursed form looked like.

 

Ryoga noticed right away that her new female form didn't look too different from her normal male one. She had the same longish, shaggy looking brownish black hair. She looked to be the same height and body build, just a little more feminine looking. Ryoga was sure if her curse had been the result of the Nyannichuan then her hair would be some other color than her normal color and she would look a lot more girly. But since Minerva was the one to guide the changes, she had made Ryoga's female from as close to her birth form as possible.

 

Ryoga bit her lip as she looked down at her covered chest, there was still a part of herself she hadn't seen.

 

 _'Get a hold of yourself Hibiki,'_ Ryoga thought as she closed her eyes. _'This is_ your _body, you're going to have to see it sometime and you're going to have to get use to it. You can't get a nosebleed and faint every time you want to take a bath or something.'_

 

Steeling herself, Ryoga slowly opened the robe and looked at herself. She had to quickly pinch her nose to stop another nose bleed that wanted to erupt. Determined to get over her habit of fainting over female flesh, Ryoga forced herself to look again.

 

 _'Ok... this isn't too bad,'_ Ryoga thought. As she had noticed earlier, her body wasn't too different from her male one, the biggest difference was the pair of breasts in the middle of her chest. They weren't huge, in fact compared to the rest of the girls Ryoga knew in her life, her new breasts were pretty small. Not 'A' cup size, a 'B' at least. Ryoga's eyes started to drift downward. Feeling a trickle of blood start to escape her nose, Ryoga decided that she would take this a step at a time and quickly snapped the robe back closed tying it tight around her waist.

 

Turning away from the mirror Ryoga took in the room again. It wasn't much, just a bed off to one side and the crib where Harry napped. Other than the mirror behind her, there was a table in the room that she hadn't noticed before. She blinked; sitting on top of the table was a tabby cat who was looking back at Ryoga intently. The cat was sitting a little too stiffly and had a human level intelligence in its eyes. It had strange markings as well, all around its eyes were black lines that almost looked like the glasses Minerva had been wearing.

 

"McGonagall-sensei?" Ryoga asked. The cat blinked then jumped off the table. With a pop, the cat changed in mid-air into Minerva who looked a little impressed.

 

"How did you know?" She asked.

 

"One of my... well I don't know if you'd call her a friend but she's cursed like me," Ryoga explained as she sat down. "Shampoo, she turns into a cat. Your cat form reminded me of hers."

 

"I see," Minerva said. "Are you alright, you fainted after the transformation was complete and you are bleeding a little bit." She pointed to Ryoga's nose. Ryoga reached up and sighed as her fingers came away wet with blood.

 

"It's nothing, I always get nosebleeds when I see a girl's body," Ryoga explained as she wiped the blood off her face with the sleeve of her robes. "I'll have to get use to seeing that now."

 

"Yes well... as long as you're alright," Minerva said a bit doubtfully. "I picked up a few things for Harry while you were sleeping." She said as she pulled out a package from her pockets and enlarged it with her wand. "Mostly some more clothing, a few things you'll need as he gets bigger and a couple books and toys."

 

"Arigato," Ryoga said as she looked into the package. "McGonagall-sensei... could you get me some photos of Harry-chan's parents? So he'll have photos to look at of them."

 

"Of course, I will be glad too," Minerva said with a sad smile. She was so happy that Ryoga wanted to still let Harry know his birth parents. "I have a request of you. I would like you to keep me updated on young Harry as he grows."

 

"Alright, but you might have a little problem contacting me," Ryoga said. "I can end up anywhere on the planet at any time."

 

"So I assume an owl is out of the question," Minerva said with amusement.

 

"Ryoa?" Minerva and Ryoga turned to the crib where Harry was now awake. He was standing in the crib, holding his stuffed stag in one arm and rubbing his eyes with the other. "Up?"

 

Minerva smiled as Ryoga walked over and picked Harry up gently, cradling the toddler in her arms. Harry tilted his head to the side confused. His Ryoa looked different and patting Ryoga's chest found the same weird bumps that his Mama had.

 

"Don't worry Chibi, it's still me," Ryoga assured him with a small laugh. That seemed to satisfy Harry as he laid his head down on the teen's shoulder. "You could send mail to my house, I manage to stop by to drop off souvenirs every now and then."

 

Minerva nodded, she thought that might work out better. She could have a House Elf that worked for her and not the school to pick up and drop off mail at a mailbox for her. A smile spread across her face as Harry saw her and held his arms out to his 'Mimi'.

 

*****

 

A couple of hours later Ryoga found himself back in Ragnok's office back in his original male form. To one side of him sat Minerva while Harry sat in his lap.

 

"I have here in front of me papers that will allow you to adopt young Mr. Potter in both the magical and non-magical worlds," Ragnok said as he pushed forward the paperwork that would make the adoption legal in the non-magical world. "We have contacted the Tokyo branch of Gringotts and they have sent the forms to make it legal on their end. I assume you will sign as a witness Professor McGonagall?"

 

"Yes, it would be my pleasure," Minerva agreed. She was feeling very good about this, Ryoga seemed like a nice young man and she could see he cared for Harry. The witch had no doubt he would raise, love and protect Harry like James and Lily had. Still, there was a small part of her that felt bad about deceiving Albus Dumbledore, her boss, mentor and friend for so many years. But since he wanted to put Harry with Lily's sister Petunia, who Minerva was sure her and her husband Vernon were some of the worse Muggles possible, Minerva had to push her guilt to the side. This was about protecting Harry and making sure he was raised by a loving family.

 

Ragnok pointed on the Muggle forms where Ryoga and Minerva needed to sign, this part went off without a hitch. It was when it was time for Ryoga to sign the scroll that would allow him to adopt Harry in the wizarding world did they run into a problem. When Ryoga used the black blood quill, nothing appeared on the parchment.

 

"Is it out of ink?" Ryoga asked when he didn't see his name on the line where his signature was to go.

 

"That is a blood quill," Minerva said with a slightly pale face. Ragnok took the quill back and using Goblin magic waved his hand over it to make sure the magic was still working.

 

"There is nothing wrong with the quill," He said with a frown.

 

"Errr, just how does the quill thing work?" Ryoga asked.

 

"The magic of the quill cuts into your skin and draws your blood to use as ink," Ragnok explained. "There is a power in blood and it's not unusual for official documents to be signed with blood."

 

"Oh, well maybe my skin is too tough?" Ryoga suggested after thinking on it for a second.

 

"Come again?" Ragnok asked.

 

"What do you mean by that Mr. Hibiki," Minerva asked.

 

"I... well... I trained to use a technique called the Bakusai Tenketsu, the Breaking Point," He translated for Minerva. "It's a chi attack that was originally used at construction sites to clear away rocks. I can blast apart rocks by jamming my finger into the stone's weak point and forcing chi into the point. It has a side effect, it toughened my skin to the point that I'm nearly invulnerable to any physical attacks."

 

"That... is an interesting attack," Ragnok said slowly. "Sit here, we may have to do this the old fashioned way." The two humans watched the Goblin leave the office before Minerva turned to Ryoga.

 

"Mr. Hibiki, just how did you train for a technique like this?" Minerva asked. Ryoga flushed slightly and looked down into his lap, playing with Harry's soft hair.

 

"I don't think you want to know," He mumbled softly. Ragnok returned a few minutes later with a knife and a bowl in his hands. The knife was covered with runes Minerva observed as she watched Ragnok motion for Ryoga to hold out his hand.

 

"We use this type of knife to cut up the hides of dragons," Ragnok explained. "Dragon hides are very tough, I doubt your skin is tougher than theirs." Ryoga hissed softly in pain as the knife sliced the palm of his hand, the blood dripping into the bowl that Ragnok held under the cut. Once he had enough blood, he cast a healing spell in Gobbledygook, sealing the cut and leaving a scar behind on the palm of Ryoga's hand.

 

"As the blood quill does not seem to work on you, you'll have to dip a quill in your blood in the bowl to sign with instead," The Goblin said. Ryoga sighed softly and did just that, signing his name on the line. Once Minerva signed her name as a witness, Ragnok called for another Goblin to have the papers filed away in the Ministry of Magic and the Muggle government.

 

"Congratulations Mr. Hibiki, it's a boy," Ragnok said. Harry laughed and clapped his hands as Ryoga hugged him closer gently.

 

*******

 

Edit 8-29-14: Nothing really fixed here.


	4. Chapter 4

Harry Hibiki - the one shot series

 

Disclaimer: Harry Potter © J. K. Rowling and Ranma 1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi

 

Author note: Thanks to my beta Blissfull Wulf.

 

There isn't much known about Ryoga's parents, all that is mentioned about them is that they both have the same lack of direction as Ryoga, that his mother sets traps when she leaves the house and his father calls the house to check in on his family. Nothing else is ever mentioned about them, not even their names. So I have since I started including them in my stories given them the names Ayako and Ryoichi, and I have come up with my own back stories for both of them since there isn't one already.

 

Also for this chapter "-" is Japanese and ~-~ is English.

 

Chapter 4

 

~Bye-bye!~ Harry waved as he and Ryoga watched Ranma, Ukyo, Shampoo, and Mousse leave the Hibiki household. The girls giggled and waved back while the boys rolled their eyes. Ryoga sighed in relief as they all left and closed the door.

 

He and the rest of the teens had brain stormed for at least a couple of hours in what training they may use to make sure Harry survived what came his way in the future. It hadn't been easy, several fights had almost broken out among them. Ukyo and Shampoo had to be separated at least twice and everyone had hit Mousse at least once.

 

 _'Never thought there would be a day I would be angry with everyone_ but _Ranma,'_ Ryoga thought to himself as he headed for the kitchen with his dog Shirokuro’s help. He was still pissed at how everyone reacted after Harry mistook Ranma's cursed form for his mother Lily Potter, all because they both had red hair. Even Akane, a girl Ryoga had a crush on for the longest time, was on his shit list. Almost every single one of Ranma's fiancée/rivals had come out of the woodwork and scared Harry with their yelling.

 

Ryoga had unleashed his, or her anger since he was in his new female cursed form at the time, on everyone after sending Ranma out of the room with Harry.

 

"How about we make some dinner, hmm Chibi?" Ryoga asked, shaking his head and smiling down at Harry. Harry giggled, he had no idea what Ryoga was saying since it was said in Japanese but his Ryoa was smiling at him it must be ok. "Yeah, I thought so too," Ryoga chuckled and set Harry down in the middle of the floor. Harry squealed as Shirokuro snuffled and licked his cheek.

 

~Doggy!~ Harry yelled as he hugged the bi-colored dog around the neck. Ryoga smiled and left Harry under Shirokuro's watchful eye as he opened one of the lower cabinets to get a pot out, leaving the door open as he turned toward the sink. Harry spied the open door and the pots inside, his green eyes lighting up.

 

His Daddy would sometimes take his Mummy's pots out and put them on the floor so Harry could bang on them. Harry crawled over to the cabinet and dragged out another pot, placing it upside down in front of him. Now he just needed a spoon. Harry looked up at his Ryoa as the teen opened a drawer to get out a spoon, leaving it open as he stepped away to stand in front of the stove.

 

Harry narrowed his eyes at the drawer, using his magic to make a couple of wooden spoons float out and fly into his hands.

 

Ryoga spun around in surprise as Harry started banging on the pot, laughing at himself for being jumpy and at Harry as the toddler squealed happily. The puppies started to bark and howl as they surrounded Harry. The sound was annoying but Harry seemed to be having fun so Ryoga left him to his play.

 

"My goodness, what in the world is going on in here?" A woman's voice said from behind Ryoga a few minutes later.

 

"Mom!" Ryoga said happily as he swept his mother into a hug. Ryoga's mother Ayako was a petite woman who had the same dark green eyes as her son as well as the same soft face and nose. Ayako was a world leading Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnast, a class way above Kodachi Kuno. Ryoga had watched her as a child as she practiced and adapted the art for him to use in his own way.

 

"My baby," Ayako said with a laugh as she kissed her son's forehead. As soon as Ryoga let her down, she slide her travel pack off her back and set it down against the wall, a pastel pink umbrella sitting on top of the pack. "Now who's this little fellow?"

 

"Umm... this is going to be very weird to hear," Ryoga said as he leaned down and plucked Harry off the floor, taking the spoons from the toddler and placing them on the counter. "I...umm... want you to meet your grandson."

 

~Hi!~ Harry said with a grin.

 

"Grandson!?" Ayako exclaimed in shock. "Hibiki Ryoga! What did you do!?"

 

"Not that!" Ryoga said with a bright blush. "I didn't knock a girl up or anything, I adopted Harry."

 

"Ryoga, I think you better explain," Ayako said.

 

"I found Harry over a month ago, his home had been attacked and his parents were killed," Ryoga explained with a sigh. "I took Harry because I didn't know how long it would take me to find help. Then a couple of weeks ago I found this bank run by goblins and they told me Harry was really famous in the magical world-"

 

"Wait, are you telling me you adopted the 'Boy-who-lived'?" Ayako asked. She and her husband had the same problem as their only son, a lack of direction and the ability to end up anywhere. Ayako wasn't as bad as her husband or her son but it was still pretty bad.

 

"You know about that?" Ryoga asked.

 

"Yes, I've heard about it from a French wizard that has family in England," Ayako said.

 

"Well the goblins told me that both his godfather and godmother couldn't take him in," Ryoga continued. "And some guy called Dumbledore wanted to place Harry with his aunt against his Okaasan’s wishes. So I agreed to take him in instead."

 

"Oh baby, do you know what you're getting into?" Ayako asked. "Taking care of a baby is a big responsibly and you're still a baby yourself."

 

"Mom I'm 17," Ryoga said with a blush.

 

"You're still _my_ baby," Ayako said. "And you always will be."

 

"Mom..." Ryoga blushed again, shifting Harry on his hip. "I know I'm young, but Harry needs me and the paperwork is all signed so he's mine. Don't worry."

 

"I'm your mother, I'll always worry," Ayako said with a sigh. "There's nothing for it now, I just hope you know what you are getting into. Now, let me see my grandson," she held out her arms for Harry. Ryoga grinned and handed Harry over, the toddler sucking a thumb as he looked up at Ryoga's mother.

 

~Chibi, this is my mom,~ Ryoga said in English.

 

~Ryoa mama?~ Harry repeated, Ayako giggling at Harry's cute attempt at Ryoga's name.

 

~Yes, and she's your grandma now too,~ Ryoga explained. Harry looked a little confused, not quite understanding what Ryoga meant.

 

"Wait until your father finds out about this," Ayako said with a sigh.

 

"Find out about what?" A male voice said from the doorway, Ryoga's father and Ayako's husband Ryoichi Hibiki looking at both of them and Harry in confusion.

 

*****

 

Ryoichi Hibiki was a tall, strong man that had a wolfish, almost roguish look to him. When he smiled or laughed, anyone could see he sported a set of cute fangs just like his son. Ryoga took after his father in his looks in many ways.

 

The three Hibiki's sat around the table, Harry sitting in Ayako's lap as she refused to give up her grandson just yet, as Ryoga once against explained this time in more detail just how he ended up as a teenage father.

 

"Well that's quite a tale son," Ryoichi said as Ryoga wound down. "I'm proud of you sport."

 

"Ryoichi, he's only 17," Ayako said worriedly.

 

"Aya-chan, Ryoga had to pretty much raise himself most days," Ryoichi pointed out. "Yes he's young but I think he's responsible enough to take on fatherhood. Look at what he's done already, he figured out a way around our little family problem."

 

"I'm right here," Ryoga said as they talked like he wasn't there.

 

"What about your curse thing?" Ayako asked, she had discovered her son's curse when coming across a cute little black piglet one day in the rain. Feeling sorry for the critter, who she thought had to be somebody's pet since it had a bandanna tied around its neck, she took it inside and tried to give the pig a hot bath to warm it up. The piglet fought with her but Ayako won that struggle in the end only to scream in surprise and shock as she was suddenly holding her very naked son.

 

Once she calmed down, Ryoga explained to his mother why he turned into a pig. Ayako in turn told her husband next time he called her.

 

"I got that taken care of too," Ryoga said with a sigh as he picked up a glass of water sitting on the table. This part he hadn't told his parents about, so Ayako and Ryoichi watched in surprise as Ryoga poured the water over his head and instead of changing into a tiny pig he changed into a girl.

 

"Oh, I've always wanted a daughter," Ayako said as she started to laugh. Harry squealed in laughter as well, clapping his hands. He loved it when his Ryoga changed shape. It wasn’t as exciting as a piggy but it was still amazing to the toddler.

 

~Ryoa! Again!~ Harry said. Ayako grinned and cuddled the giggling toddler.

 

"Oh you are so cute," she said.

 

"Well that's one way to get around it," Ryoichi said as he looked at his son-turned-daughter. "How did you change your curse? Go back to the cursed training grounds?"

 

"Iie, the goblins at the bank contacted this witch who's an expert at changing things," Ryoga said with a shake of her head. "It was an added bonus that she knew Harry-chan's birth parents and supported me in adopted the chibi. She changed the shape of the curse so I would at least be human."

 

"Why a girl then?" Ryoichi asked. "Why not your normal form?"

 

"Tried that, didn't work," Ryoga said with a small frown. "It held only a few minutes then I was forced back into my original curse form. At least as a girl I'm still human."

 

"I think it's a smart choice," Ayako said.

 

"Then you agree our boy is ready to be a dad," Ryoichi said with a grin. Ayako sighed and brushed Harry's hair back, tracing a finger over the scar on his forehead.

 

"Oh alright yes," She said with a sigh. "My baby is growing up!"

 

"Mom!" Ryoga blushed heavily, burying her head in her hands as Ryoichi laughed. Harry looked at them confused, looking up at Ryoichi.

 

"Don't worry little man, women are impossible to understand," Ryoichi said as he plucked Harry out of Ayako's arms to hold him. "Don't even try, they are a mystery to everyone."

 

"Ryoichi!" Ayako punched her husband in the arm while Ryoga scowled at her father at being compared to a real woman. "Don't tell our grandson that! Kami-sama, we already have a grandson, I've got to do some shopping."

 

"Shopping?" Ryoga asked.

 

"Of course, I've got to get my little grandson gifts for Christmas," Ayako said with a smile, she was warming up to her only son already being a dad and having a grandson to spoil. "What have you got to take care of him? Does he have clothing and toys?"

 

"I've picked up baby food and diapers a couple of times at stores," Ryoga said as she scratched her neck. "And I packed some spare clothing and a couple of toys he really seemed to like." Ayako hummed to herself then stood from the table.

 

"Shirokuro, come here girl," She cooed, patting her leg as she called Ryoga's dog to her.

 

"Awoo," Shirokuro walked over to the woman's side, a pack of puppies on their mother's heels.

 

"Where are you going?" Ryoichi asked.

 

"I know I packed some of Ryoga's old clothing and toys away, I bet Harry will love those," Ayako said. "Come on girl, let's go up to the attic." She walked out with the bi-color dog to retrieve the items.

 

"Crazy woman," Ryoichi said fondly as he watched his wife leave.

 

"Dad?" Ryoga asked softly, catching her father's attention. "Do you really think I'm doing the right thing?"

 

"Well... I can see why your mother is worried, you are still only in your teens," Ryoichi said, smiling as Harry stood in his lap and reached up toward the dark red bandanna he wore around his forehead. "But we raised you, as best we could, to be a responsible young man. You already put Harry ahead of everything else, that's what any good parent would do."

 

"I'm just afraid I'll mess up," Ryoga said looking down at the table top and tracing patterns on the surface. "I mean, what if he gets hurt or I don't know, what if I mess him up somehow. He's suppose to be a really powerful wizard one day and he's gonna have people after him, what if I don't prepare him enough for that?"

 

"Ryoga, son, look at me," Ryoichi said placing one hand on one of Ryoga's shoulders. Ryoga looked up at her father, her fangs peeking over her lower lip as she bit it. "Parenthood is never easy, if anyone tries to tell you any different they are lying. You'll make mistakes, I did when I became a father, and sometimes I still do. But as long as you learn from those mistakes and do your best to raise this little monkey, everything will be fine."

 

"Are you sure?" Ryoga asked she still had her doubts she could really do this despite what she told her mother.

 

"You love this kid right?" Ryoichi asked as he picked up Harry and held him out toward Ryoga. Harry laughed and held his arms out toward Ryoga who smiled and took him, sitting Harry in her lap.

 

"Yeah, how could I not?" Ryoga said as she smoothed Harry's wild hair back. "He's just so full of love and life."

 

"Well there you go, any blind man can see you care for him," Ryoichi said with a smile. "It won't be too long you'll love him as much as his real parents must have to give their lives for him. It won't be easy Ryoga but anything worth doing or having never is."

 

"Alright, I'll remember that," Ryoga said with a small smile. "Thanks Dad."

 

"Of course son," Ryoichi said with his own smile. In the hallway Ayako smiled to herself as she listened to her boys. She might still have misgivings about Ryoga, who she still saw as _her_ baby, already being a parent but Ryoichi was right in the end, Ryoga was growing up. He was giving this poor little boy a family since Harry's first one was taken from him.

 

"Ryoga... I've been wondering about this for a while... just who is Yoiko?" Ryoichi asked looking at Ryoga in confusion as she started to laugh. (1)

 

******

 

Author note: Ok, just a quick notice, this will be the last chapter for a short while. I'm going on a short hiatus but don't worry it won't be as long as the years old writer's block I had. I am going back over the previous chapters of this and my other stories to give them a tune up. As soon as I'm done, I'll be back to writing.

 

(1) Yoiko is Ranma, he disguised himself while in his cursed form and told Ryoga he was his sister because Ryoga was taking Akane over to his house to meet Shirokuro and her puppies. Ryoga ended up believe Ranma was his sister because he wasn't sure if his parents had more children since they didn't get to see each other a lot. But when Ryoga's father called the house Ryoga asked him and his father told Ryoga he didn't have a sister. This arc happen only in the manga and not the anime.

 

Edit 8-29-14: My beta pretty much go all the little mistakes.


	5. Chapter 5

Harry Hibiki - the one shot series

 

Disclaimer: Harry Potter © J. K. Rowling and Ranma 1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi

 

Author note: Thanks to my beta Blissfull Wulf.

 

Chapter 5

 

Ryoga grinned as he spotted the building down the road, shifting Harry on his hip. He had for the last few days been wandering around looking for the farm his girlfriend Akari Unryu lived on with her grandfather. Akari and her grandfather bred and trained sumo wrestling pigs, as odd as the idea sounded but no more than anything else in Ryoga’s life, and their pigs were champions in their own right.

Ryoga had met Akari after he defeated her prize pig Katsunishiki, leading the girl to decide that he was the perfect man for her as no one had ever defeated the 14th Yokozuna champion. Akari also liked his, what she called anyway, pig-like qualities and loved his pig curse. Ryoga wondered how Akari would take to his curse being changed into a girl. He thought, or hoped anyway, that she would be fine with it after all Akari was a very sweet and understanding girl. She even tried to make herself hate pigs when they started dating when she learned that he disliked them so much, that was a lot to give up considering her lifestyle and her love for swine.

Ryoga was more worried about how she would take him being a father now. Ryoga looked down at Harry who was looking around with curiosity at the farm as they walked up.  He knew Akari wanted to marry him but he didn’t know if she was ready to be a mother so soon. It was a lot to ask for someone their age.

~Uhn! Piggies!~ Harry squealed in English as he pointed at the pigs outside in their pens.

“Harry,” Ryoga gently tapped the toddler’s nose, getting his attention. “Buta, piggies are buta. Bu-ta.”

“Oo-ta,” Harry repeated with a giggle, this was a fun game his Ryoa liked to play with him. His mummy and daddy did the same thing when they were trying to teach him how to say a word.

“No, Bu. Ta.” Ryoga repeated, sounding out the word.

“Buta,” Harry repeated, laughing as Ryoga grinned and nodded.

~Good job Chibi,~ Ryoga praised in English. He thought soon Harry would know Japanese as well as he knew English.

“Buta,buta,buta,buta,” Harry chanted happily. Ryoga chuckled softly as he continued walking, one hand on the fence to guide him.

“Hello? Did I hear someone?” A girl’s voice asked as she stepped out of the barn with a feeding pail in her hands. “Ryoga!” Akari yelled happily as she saw her boyfriend, quickly putting down the pail and running over to the other teen.

“Akari,” Ryoga greeted with a smile, blushing madly as he caught her one armed in a gentle hug, careful not to let her squish Harry or to hold her too tightly.

“Ryoga I was starting to get a bit worried,” Akari said as she finally stepped back. “I know your trips were long but-“

“Hi!” Harry chirped, interrupting Akari. Akari blinked and looked over at Harry having just noticed him.

“Well, aren’t you just a cute as a piglet,” Akari cooed. “Who’s this little fella?”

“Akari, I would like you to meet Harry,” Ryoga introduced. “Can we head inside, I’ll explain everything. It’s really important.”

“Sure thing,” Akari said, taking Ryoga’s free hand to guide him and wondering what was going on.

 

***********

 

Inside the house shoes were shed and Akari took off her winter coat, hanging it beside the door. Once they were in the main room sitting at the low table Ryoga took a deep breath and looked at Akari.

“Akari… Harry here is my son,” He said.

“Son?” Akari squeaked in surprise.

“Yes, I adopted him,” Ryoga quickly explained before she could jump to the conclusion like everyone else had that he slept with an unknown girl and got her pregnant. He quickly explained how he came across the Potter home and how he took Harry with him when he went to find help, helping the squirming toddler out of his little snowsuit then letting Harry wander around to explore as he knew the baby couldn’t wander too far from him. He edited some of what he told Akari, while she did know magic was real as she knew about his Jusenkyo curse Ryoga wasn’t sure how she would take to knowing about Wizards and Witches and the like.

“So why you?” Akari asked after a few minutes as she thought over his story. “Didn’t he have any family like a grandparent or something?” Akari herself was an orphan and had been raised by her grandfather.

“His grandparents on both sides of his family are dead,” Ryoga said with a frown as he crossed his arms over his chest, remembering what Minerva had told him about Harry’s birth family. “His father was an only child. His mother has a sister but… well I don’t think she and Harry’s mother got along and from what little I heard about her she doesn’t seem fit to raise any child. Both of his godparents are unable to take care of him so it was really a choice of either me or his aunt.”

“Well… that really is sweet of you,” Akari said, watching as Harry toddled around exploring. Thankfully there was nothing breakable in his reach.

“Yeah well the… people… who helped me with the adoption helped me in other ways too,” Ryoga said. “They… well… I don’t turn into a pig anymore.”

“What? Oh no Ryoga, why would you do that?” Akari said with a sad look. Ryoga’s curse was just one of the many things she liked about Ryoga after all. “Your curse is gone for good?”

“No, I’m still cursed,” Ryoga admitted. “I just don’t turn into P-chan anymore. It’s been changed into a female version of my normal form.”

“Oh… why? Can you change it back?” Akari asked. Ryoga frowned slightly.

“Akari, I can barely take care of myself when I turned into a pig,” Ryoga said. “There was no way I could take care of a toddler like that. We were already attacked by a bear, Harry and I were lucky we didn’t get eaten. And why in the name of Kami would I _want_ to change my curse back? I hated turning into that pig, at least as a girl I’m still a human.”

“But Ryoga, your curse was so wonderful,” Akari said.

“No it wasn’t Akari,” Ryoga disagreed. He didn’t know why Akari thought it was so great to turn into a pig. Sure she loved pigs, her whole life revolved around them but did she not realize how hard it was for somebody who spent most of their life on the road to turn into a tiny piglet? Ryoga couldn’t even begin to count the amount of times he had almost been eaten, by both other animals and by humans! Akari sighed softly, she wished Ryoga would see pigs the same why she did sometimes. Still, there was nothing for it now; hopefully he would let the curse be changed back later.

“So what else have you been up to?” Akari asked dropping the subject. “You and your… son.” Akari wasn’t sure what to think about that, she was only 16 and wasn’t ready to be a mother or to get married though Ryoga was the man she was set on getting married to one day. Would Ryoga even want more children now that he adopted Harry? Akari wanted to have children of her own with Ryoga, just not for a while, that would help raise their family’s prize sumo pigs and one day take over the farm. Would Harry even be suited to properly raise sumo pigs?

Ryoga smiled as he started to tell Akari one of the more amusing tells of his adventures of learning how to take care of a toddler, making sure to keep mention of any magic out of the story. He noticed the sliding door open out of the corner of his eye, relaxing slightly as Akari’s very large sumo pig Katsunishiki came into the house figuring the giant pig wouldn’t harm Harry since he was so well trained. Akari patted Katsunishiki fondly on his side as he walked past, the pig sniffing the air as he caught Ryoga and Harry’s scents.

Katsunishiki looked around the room, looking for the new person in his mistress’s house. He spied a small human sitting in front of a set of shelves pulling little pig shaped knickknacks off while repeating ‘Piggy’ and ‘Buta’ to himself. Katsunishiki walked up behind Harry, his piggy snout wiggling as he sniffed the boy. Harry blinked as his hair was ruffled by the sumo pig’s breath, snuffling around on his bottom to look behind him. Harry’s green eyes widened in fright, Katsunishiki was a large pig after all but to a toddler the swine was giant and in his fright he was reminded of the bear attack in the cave.

“AHHH! RYOAAAA!” Harry screamed in fright as he burst into tears and threw his arms out in front of him. His budding magic acted out, blasting into Katsunishiki and knocking the sumo pig back with a surprised squeal. Ryoga jumped up at Harry’s yell, ducking down as Katsunishiki sailed past him into the sliding doors, knocking the doors down in the process, and ran over to Harry.

“Shhh Chibi shhhh,” Ryoga said as he picked Harry, cradling the crying toddler close. “I’ve got you shhhh.”

“Katsunishiki!” Akari yelled at the same time, running over to her pet’s side. She touched the pig’s side looking him over for injuries. Katsunishiki was dazed but unharmed. “What was that!?” Akari yelled as she stood up and turned to face Ryoga who finally got Harry to calm back down. One of the toddler’s hands was fisted in Ryoga’s top while he sucked the thumb of the other hand, his head on Ryoga’s shoulder. Ryoga sighed and rubbed Harry’s back.

“That was just a little bit of magic,” Ryoga said.

“Magic? Like your curse?” Akari asked with a frown.

“Sorta, there’s a lot of different types,” Ryoga explained. “Harry is, or will be one day, a wizard. He’s a magic user, he just accidently used some to blast Katsunishiki back a bit.”

“A bit!” Akari yelled making Harry whine a bit. “He could have killed Katsunishiki!”

“Katsunishiki is fine,” Ryoga said with a scowl, waving his hand at the sumo pig as Katsunishiki stood up and shook himself out of his daze. “See? It was just an accident, your pig just scared Harry a little bit.”

“And that excuses him from using magic to blast Katsunishiki across the room?” Akari asked with a huff, her hands on her hips.

“Yes, I think it does. Harry didn’t do that on purpose Akari, he doesn’t have any control over his magic yet,” Ryoga argued.

“No control!?” Akari said. “What if he does that again? He could kill one of my other pigs!”

“Akari, he’s only around 20 months old, not even two yet,” Ryoga said. “No one has control at that age. He’s not going to kill any of your pigs, this was just an accident. He’s just a baby.”

Akari shook her head, scared by what Harry had done and thinking of what could happen if the child did that to her other pigs.

“I’m sorry Ryoga, you have to get rid of him-“ she started to say. Ryoga’s dark green eyes widened as he pulled Harry closer to him.

“What!?” Ryoga yelled, rubbing Harry’s back against as toddler whimpered. “Are you out of your mind?”

“Ok, that’s a little harsh but you have to get rid of his magic before he’s allowed near the pigs,” Akari said, knowing right away that telling Ryoga to get rid of Harry was the wrong thing to say. “How can he train sumo pigs if his magic hurts them?”

“Train sumo pigs?” Ryoga frowned then shook his head. “Harry isn’t going to train sumo pigs and I’m not going to get his magic bound.”

“Ryoga, you are my future husband,” Akari said. “Which means I will end up as his mother and our family has trained sumo pigs for generations.”

“Akari, you’re sweet and I can see me being happily married to you but neither I nor Harry is going to train your pigs,” Ryoga said bluntly. “I hate pigs, I hated turning _into_ a pig. I can’t even bring myself to eat pork. I push much of that hate aside for you but I am not going to spend my life working with pigs.” Akari gasped, her fingers covering her mouth as her eyes widened. “And I’m not going to change Harry just to satisfy you. Magic is part of what Harry is. If you can’t accept that then I’m sorry but I can’t be with you.”

“You… you would chose him over me?” Akari asked.

“Every time,” Ryoga said firmly. “Harry is my _son_ and I swore I would bring him up as best I could. Raising him to be a pig farmer is not in the cards.”

“Fine,” Akari said with a sniff as she turned away from Ryoga. “You can leave then. Take him with you and don’t come back.”

“Gladly,” Ryoga said as he grabbed Harry’s snowsuit and dressed the boy warmly. As Ryoga left the room, he could hear Akari start to cry. He paused for a moment then shook his head, making his choice as he grabbed his pack and left the house. Harry couldn’t even look at the pigs as they walked away from the farm, burying his face into Ryoga’s neck. Further down the road Ryoga stopped again and looked back at the farm and the house.

“Goodbye Akari,” Ryoga whispered. “I hope you find somebody one day who can give you what you want.” Looking down at Harry, Ryoga smiled and knew he was making the right choice as he continued to walk away.

 

**********

 

Author note: Whoop! The editing for all the fanfics is done and my hiatus is over.

I hope everyone likes how I handled the breakup between Ryoga and Akari. Akari only spoke as harshly as she did as she was startled and scared by what Harry did, fear can make a person say things they wouldn’t usually say or speak without thinking first.


	6. Chapter 6

Life and Times of Harry Hibiki

Author: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter © J. K. Rowling and Ranma 1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi

Author note: Thanks to my beta Blissfull Wulf.

Also, as everyone should have noticed, the name of the fic has been changed from ‘Harry Hibiki the one shot series’ to ‘Life and Times of Harry Hibiki’.

 

Chapter 6

 

Ryoga sighed softly and contently as he leaned back on his hands by the campfire, looking up at the star filled sky. Above him and Harry was a full moon, washing the forest around them in a pale light. While he hated being lost and having no choice in his travels, he did love being able to look up at the night sky and see all of the heavens without city lights blocking most of the beauty. He listened to the fire crackle and pop and to the sounds of Harry babbling happily to his stuffed toy beside him.

Grinning Ryoga looked down to his side at Harry, other than a few ups and downs, traveling with the magical toddler had been the best thing that had happened to Ryoga. He wasn’t anywhere near as depressed as he had been in the past and no longer lonely. Harry looked up, feeling his Ryoa’s eyes on him and gave the teen a toothy grin.

“Well Chibi, what do you say? Should we turn in for the night?” Ryoga asked as he gently ran his fingers through Harry’s soft hair.

“No!” Harry said with a laugh and pushed Ryoga’s hand away.

“No huh?” Ryoga asked with a chuckle. “Well… I guess we can stay up for a few more minutes but soon little boys need to go to bed.” Harry giggled and turned back to his stuffed stag. Ryoga’s lips quirked in a slight smile, Harry was just too cute at times, and turned back to look into the fire enjoying the quiet of the night.

But soon it occurred to Ryoga that it was a little _too_ quiet. Camping for years, Ryoga was use to the sound of nocturnal animals rustling in the bushes, of owls fluttering in the trees, of crickets chirping in the night or the sound of a nearby frog croaking. Ryoga blinked and looked around to the outer edges of his and Harry’s campsite as he realized he couldn’t hear any of that now, only the wind blowing through the grass. Unease started to creep over Ryoga as he plucked Harry off the ground and held him to his chest and started to stand up.

“Ryoa?” Harry asked, looking up at his guardian.

“Shhh Harry,” Ryoga whispered. “You need to be quiet, just like we practiced.” Harry pressed his little hands to his mouth, his stag tucked into the crook of his arm. As camping in the wild was dangerous even for a teenager or adult much less a toddler, Ryoga started off as soon as possible to teach Harry a few basic skills. Nothing over the top of course, Harry was only a couple of years old after all, but being quiet and still was one of them. Ryoga knelt down and grabbed his combat umbrella off the ground his eyes darting around into the darkness.

He strained his ears, trying to catch any sound of what might be in the woods. The sound of running feet? Panicked breathing? Ryoga stood just in time as a young man a couple of years older than Ryoga burst into the clearing where he and Harry were camping.

“Bloody hell!” the young man said as he skid to a stop seeing Ryoga. He panted, leaning forward his hands resting on his knees.

“Are you alright?” Ryoga asked, the sense of danger had not passed so something else was out there in the woods.

“Were…wolf…chasing…me…” the young man said as he stood up. “You need to run you fool!”

“Wha? Werewolf?” Ryoga repeated blinking then his eyes widening as his brain caught up to this fact. At the same time his warning sense went off. A snarling howl filled the air as something large and hairy burst out of the shadows. The young man screamed in fright and quickly ran behind Ryoga. Ryoga growled softly as he stared at the werewolf in his camp, the beast was huge with drool dripping from his snarling mouth and golden eyes filled with the need to kill and rip apart the humans in front of him. There was a large patch of gray fur on the werewolf’s back.

“Take my son and go climb up into that tree over there,” Ryoga said over his shoulder, never taking his eyes off the werewolf who was licking his chops.

“What?! Are you mad? We should run!!” The young man said. “You don’t plan on fighting that monster do you? It’ll kill you!”

“I’m stronger than I look just take my son and get him to safety,” Ryoga said. “Up that tree.”

“Why a tree?” The man said with great reluctance as he took Harry who whined.

“Werewolves can’t climb trees,” Ryoga pointed out. The young man’s eyes widened as he realized Ryoga was right, running for the nearest tree at the same time the werewolf lunged at Ryoga. As Ryoga rolled to the side out of the path of the werewolf, the young man took out a wand and used a sticking charm on Harry to keep from dropping the babe then quickly climbed into the upper branches of the tree.

“Groowwwllll,” The werewolf bared his teeth at Ryoga, anger shining in amber toned eyes as this meat sack got in between him and his meal. Ryoga gripped his weapon with both hands, his feet spread apart and ready to move the moment the werewolf did. Letting out a roar like growl, the werewolf leapt at Ryoga again.

“HEY!” Ryoga moved to the side and swung his heavy umbrella, connecting with the surprised werewolf’s head and sending it flying into Ryoga’s camping tent. “Oh kuso,” Ryoga cursed as the werewolf became tangled in the tent, tearing it apart with sharp claws as it fought to get back on his feet. With a mighty rip the tent was torn in two and the werewolf was facing Ryoga again. This time it was a tiny bit hesitant to leap at Ryoga again, the weapon in the human’s hand had hurt when it hit his body.

Harry watched the fight from up in the tree where he was being held by the strange man. He whimpered softly in fright, wondering why this big doggy was attacking his Ryoa!

The werewolf started to circle Ryoga, who turned slightly with it keeping the werewolf in sight at all times. His hands flexed over the handle of the umbrella waiting for the werewolf to make its move. The wolf’s upper lip curled as he growled, showing off an impressive set of yellow fangs, making the young man in the tree squeak in fear. Ryoga smirked slightly, one of his own fangs peeking over a lip.

“Come on you bastard,” He taunted. The werewolf bellowed out a challenging roar and ran at Ryoga, claws sending up a spray of dirt and grass behind him, before he stood up on his hind legs and swung his powerful arm like foreleg down to tear Ryoga in two. Ryoga snapped his umbrella open and used it as a shield, the claws connecting with iron and sending up a shower of sparks in their wake. The werewolf howled in surprise giving Ryoga just the second he needed to twist around planting a fist in the wolf’s stomach.

“Oooommfff!” The werewolf bent in two as the air was knocked out of him by Ryoga’s hit then fell to the ground as Ryoga drove his elbow into the back of its neck then quickly backed away. The werewolf climbed back to his feet, swaying a bit and looking at the so-called prey with a lot more wariness. This human was no simple meal, it was a dangerous creature in its own right. Ryoga wasn’t about to give the werewolf another chance to attack, he quickly gathered his chi to him letting it gather in the cupped center of his hands. As it was anger and rage fueling his chi this time instead of depression, the chi turned a bright angry red instead of killing curse green.

“SHI SHI HOKODAN!” Ryoga roared thrusting his hands out in front of him and sending the ball of red chi at the werewolf. The wolf was so startled by the attack it was unable to dodge and the chi attack landed in the middle of his chest knocking him off his feet and sending him flying several feet into the air. The werewolf landed on his back on the edge of the clearing and quickly scrambled to his feet, turning tail and running back into the night. His prey had become the hunter and he wasn’t sticking around to get killed.

Ryoga stood in the middle of the destroyed camp breathing only slightly hard, the werewolf had been nothing compared to others he had fought over the last year. Hell, he didn’t even break a sweat!

“Bloody hell, that was amazing!” the young man said from the tree.

“Ryoa!” Harry said his little arms reaching out for his guardian.

“Umm… I don’t suppose you can help me down?” The man asked as he was stuck in the tree. Ryoga sighed, leaving his umbrella where he had dropped it on the ground, then jumped up into the branches of the tree. He took Harry, tucking his son against his chest safely, then grabbed the young man by the back of his robes. The man squawked as he was picked up, almost not believing this younger man was so strong that he could be picked up by just one hand, then suddenly found himself on the ground as Ryoga jumped down and landed on light feet. “Whew, thanks mate. You have no idea… that werewolf would have eaten me if you hadn’t…”

“It’s fine,” Ryoga said with a wave of his hand then sighed as he looked at his ruined tent. He was going to have to buy another one. “It was nothing.”

“It was not nothing,” the man protested. “You saved my life! I owe you a life debt!” Ryoga sighed and rolled his eyes skywards. “My name is Alex by the way. Alexander Thomas Leatherwood.”

“Yeah great, my name is Ryoga,” Ryoga said with another sigh as he turned to face Alex. “And this is my son Harry.”

“Then I am in your debt Ryoga,” Alex said with a bow, stumbling over the name slightly.

“No really, you’re not,” Ryoga said with a shake of his head as he shifted Harry to one hip then went over to the tent hoping that his travel pack had survived the carnage. Alex huffed and crossed his arms over his chest as he watched the other man.

“Oh… your tent…” he said as he fully realized the damage the werewolf had done to it while Ryoga fought it.

“Completely destroyed,” Ryoga said as he picked up part of the shredded tent. Harry reached out and grabbed another part, holding it up and grinning at Ryoga, he was helping.

“Then you’re in luck!” Alex said. “If you won’t allow me to give you a life debt, then at least let me pay you back another way. I come from a long line of tent makers, we make the finest magical tents in the world. Let me make you one to replaced the one you had.”

“Magical tent?” Ryoga asked as he turned to face Alex again. Alex’s face went a bit pale, had he just broken the statute of secrecy to a muggle?

“W-wait, you’re not a muggle are you?” He asked. Ryoga sighed slightly and shook his head.

“Non-magical but with creature blood,” he said. “Plus my son here is magical.” He bounced Harry gently who giggled. Alex slumped slightly in relief, just having a magical kid was enough to excuse muggles from the statue since they were allowed to know because of their kids.

“Alright then, I can work with that,” Alex said. “What I had meant by the magical tents are that they are bigger on the inside but look like a normal tent on the outside. The tents my family makes are custom made, much better quality than the ones you’ll find in places like Diagon Alley, we usually cater to the rich families like the Malfoys or Blacks, but since you saved my life I’ll make one just for you to replace the one the werewolf chasing me destroyed. How does that sound?”

Ryoga considered the offer for a moment, mulling it over.

“Just how much bigger on the inside?” Ryoga asked.

“Well I guess it depends really,” Alex said while rubbing the back of his head. “I can make one that’s got several rooms, a bath, a kitchen or anything really.” Ryoga blinked then gave Alex a fanged grin as an idea came to him.

“I think I’ll take you up on your offer and I know just what I want the inside of the tent to look like,” He said.

 

************

 

It would, Alex said, take a couple of days to make up the tent the way Ryoga requested. In that time he offered to let Ryoga and Harry stay in his guest room. Alex did find Ryoga’s habit of wandering around like he was lost a bit strange… but didn’t think too much on it as he had met a number of absent minded witches and wizards over the years. Thankfully for Ryoga as long as Harry was in one place he couldn’t wander too far away from the toddler thanks to the special bracers they both wore.

Ryoga’s idea was pretty straight forward, he wanted Harry to have a house to grow up in even if said house was really a tent. Ryoga had never had the chance to really grow up in a house, while his family did own one Ryoga had spent most of his life living on the road because he was always lost. It wouldn’t have been so bad if one of his parents had been without the Hibiki family curse, leaving someone home to help Ryoga stay there in his younger years but since both of his parents had the same lack of direction as him, Ryoga never got that chance.

He had spent more time living and sleeping in a tent than he ever got to in his family’s house. He didn’t really want that for Harry but didn’t really have a choice in the matter until now. It was a bit like having a mobile home, just something Ryoga could pack up when they were ready to move on then set up when they found a place to camp. Therefore the tent design Ryoga wanted was pretty simple, especially when compared to some of the made-to-order tents Alex or anyone in his family had made for some of their richer clients.

It looked a bit like a traditional, if simple, Japanese house. The main room of the tent was both a living room and dining room with a small kitchen area off to the side. One door led to a simple bedroom Ryoga and Harry would share while another led to a bath with a small round furo. Another door to the side of the bath held the toilet, one of the few things Ryoga went with a western design on as it was so much better than a squat toilet, and a small sink.

Once Alex was finished with the tent, which on the outside looked just like Ryoga’s old tent, it was even the same shade of yellow, Ryoga called Alex’s debt to him paid off. Alex was unable to provide any furniture sadly but Ryoga assured him it was fine and the next time Ryoga was in Japan he bought everything he needed to make his and Harry’s house tent livable. Alex also assured Ryoga that more rooms could be added to the tent as need be, just bring it to either him or at least to someone who truly knew what they were doing when it came to these types of tents.

 

*************

 

“Damn,” Ryoga looked up at Ukyo’s curse. His new travel companion was holding up her tent glaring at the rip in the side. “Completely forgot about that, I haven’t used this tent in years.”

“When did that happen?” Ryoga asked as he went back to setting up the camp fire, keeping half an eye on Harry as the young boy ran around with his new puppy playing. It had been roughly 2 years since Ryoga had adopted Harry, and while there had been their share of ups and downs, and the terrible twos for a while, Ryoga had adjusted to fatherhood greatly.

Ukyo narrowed her eyes for a moment as she tried to remember just when her tent had been damaged.

“That last training trip, right after Harry’s second birthday,” she said. “There was a fight and my tent ended up getting a rip in it.”

“Ah,” Ryoga said, he thought he knew which incident Ukyo was talking about. Ranma had gone on a summer training trip and most of the others had followed for one reason or another, including Nabiki and Kasumi for some reason. For once Ryoga hadn’t been involved in what happened as he hadn’t even been there, he believed he had been in New York at the time meeting some people that would become a very good group of friends to him and Harry, he found out about the disaster afterward from Kasumi. A fight had broken out, not unusual for their group, but had gotten really out of hand. Ryoga wasn’t sure what had happened, Kasumi refused to say and there was no way Ryoga was going to pay Nabiki to find out. All he knew was that when Ranma returned he wasn’t speaking to anyone except for Ryoga, and Ryoga knew the only reason he wasn’t on Ranma’s shit-list at the time was because he wasn’t there but off on his own with Harry, and the two older Tendo sister.

This was the same time Ranma had announced he would marry Nabiki to fulfill the Tendo/Saotome promise. To this day Ryoga still wasn’t sure how Shampoo had ended up with Ranma in the end, some sort of deal with Nabiki he was sure. Heck, Ryoga was sure Ranma didn’t really _love_ either of his wives, or wife and mistress legally, but had gone through it to restore both families’ honor and Shampoo’s honor as well. Though given time Ranma could come to really love both women.

“Well I can just camp outside until I either get this one repairs or get a new tent,” Ukyo said with a sigh as she rolled the tent back up. Ryoga looked up into the sky and judged the clouds then shook his head.

“It’s going to rain tonight,” He said.

“How can ya tell?” Ukyo asked.

“The clouds look rain heavy, learned to read the sky while camping. It became even more important after I was cursed,” Ryoga said, making an ‘oof’ sound as Harry climbed up onto his back with a shriek of laughter then two little paws braced against his back as Oreo, Harry’s puppy, chased after his master. Ryoga reached up and pulled Harry around so the toddler was sitting in his lap. “You can just stay in the tent with us,” Ryoga offered jerking his head at the yellow tent behind him.

“Wouldn’t that be a tight fit? Your tent is kinda small sugar,” Ukyo said as she eyed the tent.

“Nah, it’ll be fine. Just go ahead and dump your stuff in there, I’ll start us something to eat,” Ryoga said absently as he tickled Harry who laughed and tried to wiggle out of his daddy’s lap.

“If you’re sure…” Ukyo said in a doubtful tone. She didn’t really think it would be a comfortable fit with two adults, a toddler and a dog… but then again she really didn’t want to sleep outside while it was raining. And it was just for one night, Ukyo could lead them to the nearest town tomorrow and get herself a new tent.

Picking up her pack and smiling at the cute sight of Ryoga playing with Harry, Ukyo walked over to the tent and entered it. Once inside her mouth dropped open as she was standing in a small house-like tent, with more than enough room for her to stand up straight.

“I-it…i-it…” her pack dropped from her hand to the floor as she slowly took the inside of the tent in. Ukyo spun on her heel and raced back out, turning around to look at the tent. It looked like the same tent she had always seen Ryoga use, one just big enough for one person, maybe two in a pinch. She walked around it, making sure there wasn’t a trick, but she didn’t run into any hidden walls. Ukyo ducked back inside the tent, yep house sized again.

Ryoga watched all this in amusement, it reminded him of something he’d seen on an American’s TV one time…. Or was that some British person’s TV? About a man who had a blue police box that was bigger on the inside and how people reacted to it. What was the name of that show? Ryoga couldn’t remember, something about time travel he knew that.

“I-it’s bigger on the inside!” Ukyo said as she came out again.

“Is it?” Ryoga said in fake innocents. Ukyo glowered at him and hit Ryoga on the back of his head.

“Don’t make fun of me you jackass,” She said. “How? I mean…. Just how?”

“Magic, what else?” Ryoga said. When Ukyo gave him another ‘look’ he laughed. “I’m telling the truth. A couple of years ago I saved this guy from being mauled by a werewolf. Yes a werewolf, not the most unbelievable thing that has happen to any of us.”

“Ok… I’ll give you that one,” Ukyo agreed.

“Well he was a wizard and since I saved his life, he said he owed me a ‘Life Debt’. I have no idea just what that means but he came from a family of magical tent makers. Since mine got completely destroyed during the fight with the werewolf he offered to make me a new one instead and call it even,” Ryoga continued. “I saw it as a chance to give Harry, and me, something of a normal home life. At the very least we’ve got some sorta home instead of just living in a tent.”

“That’s…. really smart,” Ukyo said seeing his point. “Like a mobile home you can carry on your back.”

“Yeah,” Ryoga agreed. He slung Harry over his shoulder, the little boy giggling as he hung upside down from his daddy’s shoulder while Ryoga followed Ukyo back into the tent. Ryoga looked around, the tent wasn’t too barren looking like it had been when he first got it. He had a traditional low Japanese table, a kotatsu, on one side of the main room. It was a modern one that ran off an electric heater on the underside of the table. The heater, as well as the other few electronics in the tent, ran off of two small generators he bought.

Unlike the magical of the European world, the American and Asian magical communities had gone out of their way to invent ways for electronics to work _with_ magic. Not so much as working on magic itself, but able to work in magical areas unless it was a really high concentration of magic such as Hogwarts. The kitchen area was typical looking with a small stove/oven, some counter space and a college dorm fridge.

“This is… actually very cozy,” Ukyo said as she looked around. “So what happens to all the stuff in here when the tent is taken down?”

Ryoga shrugged his shoulders and set Harry down on the floor. The boy raced off with Oreo on his heels, going over to a box with his toys in the corner.

“Don’t know, I don’t have a clue how it works. I just know that nothing seems to move when the tent is packed up. When I first got it, I left a glass of water out to see if it would be knocked over or anything. It hadn’t moved at all when the tent was set back up,” he said.

“Neat…” Ukyo said. “Well beats the hell out of sleeping on the hard ground.”

“Aunt Ucc, come see me and daddy’s room!” Harry said as he grabbed Ukyo’s hand and pulled her to the small bedroom on the other side of the tent. Ukyo smiled and let herself be pulled along, Ryoga laughing as he followed.

 


End file.
